Internet Protocol Television Services Research Articles

Minimizing Zapping Delay Using Adaptive Channel Switching with Personalized Electronic Program Guide

The pervasive acceptability of a revolution from monodirectional push-based media broadcasting to a bidirectional interactive pull-based internet protocol television (IPTV) has spotted significant development in recent years. The pervasive acceptability is because of the mammoth number of exhilarating television (TV) channels that IPTV offers. However, the channel switching feature of a TV system requires additional development despite the increased implementation of IPTV systems worldwide. Subscribers of IPTV services must be able to swiftly explore live TV stations and video contents of interest seamlessly, but zapping delay is a deterrent that occurs during a channel change that causes a significant glitch in IPTV systems. Many of the literature approaches such as channel prediction based on behavior analysis have shown flaws in resolving zapping delay. The approach of this study uses adaptive channel switching with a personalized electronic program guide to resolving zapping delay. The resolution saves the subscribers the time of channel navigation by eliminating the need to search for channels they want to view.

Recommendation Engine on IPTV

In recent years IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) platforms are becoming one of the most popular entertainment multimedia services which are used to serve movies, tv-series and other video and audio attractive content using the Internet Protocol. VoD (Video on Demand) is the most popular multimedia IPTV service, which provides content without the need for the old traditional way of using video playback devices. Except that it is necessary to have high-quality VoD content, IPTV platforms must provide the best end-user experience. Moreover, it is imperative to provide new features to attract new customers and keep the existing ones. We confirmed the efficacy of this classifier thru simple trial and error. When we searched for movies that have sequels, our engine recommended those sequels. Since Cosine Similarity Classifier considers multiple factors, such as actor, genre, year, etc. Even if the movie does not have prequels or sequels this algorithm was able to provide us with movies that share other common characteristics.

Comparing simulation model for objective QoE video evaluation with real IPTV test scenario during appearance of packet losses

The aim of this article is to explain benefits of the simulation model for objective QoE (Quality of Experience) video evaluation in order to find similarities with real IPTV (Internet Protocol TeleVision) system distribution in a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) network. In DSL networks, it is known that packet losses appear suddenly and might have a "burst" character, at any time during IPTV service delivery. In addition, these packet losses usually appear in groups and lead to huge degradation of the IPTV video service, which decreases a customer's QoE guaranteed level. Hence, estimation of this degradation in an access network is crucial and this paper explains a simulation model based on SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) analysis, which can be used as one perceptive video quality assessment by imitating a real environment with packet losses. To check this, we compared simulation model cases with the real ones in IPTV video distributed over DSL and exposed to different packet loss appearances.

A Combined Approach for Customer Profiling in Video on Demand Services Using Clustering and Association Rule Mining

The purpose of this paper is to propose a combined data mining approach for analyzing and profiling customers in video on demand (VoD) services. The proposed approach integrates clustering and association rule mining. For customer segmentation, the LRFMP model is employed alongside the k-means and Apriori algorithms to generate association rules between the identified customer groups and content genres. The applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated on real-world data obtained from an Internet protocol television (IPTV) operator. In this way, four main customer groups are identified: “high consuming-valuable subscribers”,” less consuming subscribers”,” less consuming-loyal subscribers” and “disloyal subscribers”. In detail, for each group of customers, a different marketing strategy or action is proposed, mainly campaigns, special-day promotions, discounted materials, offering favorite content, etc. Further, genres preferred by these customer segments are extracted using the Apriori algorithm. The results obtained from this case study also show that the proposed approach provides an efficient tool to form different customer segments with specific content rental characteristics, and to generate useful association rules for these distinct groups. The proposed combined approach in this research would be beneficial for IPTV service providers to implement effective CRM and customer-based marketing strategies.

Video on demand recommender system for internet protocol television service based on explicit information fusion

Internet protocol television (IPTV) provides video on demand (VOD), internet service, and real-time broadcasting to users as a service that combines broadcasting and communication technology. Among various services, the sales of VOD are profitable because VODs offer relatively strong direct revenue models in IPTV services. However, the development of a VOD recommender system for IPTV service is highly challenging owing to the lack of explicit preference information of users in an IPTV environment. Previous studies for IPTV VOD recommender systems have attempted to solve the data sparsity problem through implicit preference information; however, it is better to utilize explicit preference information to improve the performance of system. Recently, IPTV service providers have provided their own over-the-top (OTT) services such that explicit preference information of users for items can be combined. Therefore, we proposed a novel information fusion method for an IPTV VOD recommender system that integrates the explicit information of both IPTV and OTT services. In addition, we utilized the probabilistic matrix factorization, that guarantees high performance in most recommender systems, as a recommender algorithm in this study. Finally, we conducted comparative evaluations based on various metrics and validated that the information fusion of IPTV and OTT services contribute to the IPTV VOD recommender system.

A Hybrid QoS-QoE Estimation System for IPTV Service

The internet protocol television service (IPTV) has become a key product for internet service providers (ISP), offering several benefits to both ISP and end-users. Because packet networks based on internet protocol have not been prepared for time-sensitive services, such as voice or video, packet networks have had to adopt several mechanisms to secure minimal transmission standards in the form of data stream prioritization. There are two commonly used approaches for video quality assessment. The first approach needs an original source for comparison (full-reference objective metrics), and the second one requires observers for subjective evaluation of video quality. Both approaches are impractical in real-time transmission because it is difficult to transform an objective score into a subjective quality perception, and on the other hand, subjective tests are not able to be performed immediately. Since many countries worldwide put IPTV on the same level as other broadcasting systems (e.g., terrestrial, cable, or satellite), IPTV services are subject to regulation by the national regulation authority. This results in the need to prepare service qualitative criteria and monitoring tools capable of measuring end-user satisfaction levels. Our proposed model combines the principles of both assessment approaches, which results in an effective monitoring solution. Therefore, the main contribution of the created system is to offer a monitoring tool able to analyze the features extracted from the video sequence and transmission system and promptly translate their impact into a subjective point of view.

A cognitive network management system to improve QoE in stereoscopic IPTV service

SummaryNew Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services are including new technologies such as Stereoscopic TV and three‐dimensions (3D) HDTV. As well, increased ubiquitous networking and promoting in smart devices have led to high demand IPTV (over networks). Stereoscopic content required higher data flow to support these emerging TV services, and there are higher requirements at the network layer to provide good quality of service and quality of experience to the end users in delivering stereoscopic IPTV. In this paper, we propose a new concept of cognitive network management algorithm and protocol based on 3D coding techniques for delivering of stereoscopic IPTV service. The proposed approach explains how the management algorithm observes the network performance to guarantee the quality of the stereoscopic IPTV services, by measuring the performance of quality of service (QoS) parameters (delay, jitter, and packets loss) and quality of experience (QoE) metrics such as Peak Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio (PSNR), Moving Image Videography (MIV), and Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Those parameters are monitored in order to take appropriate codification decision for IPTV service provider. Moreover, the codification decision uses K‐mean classification to select the better codification for the end users. Therefore, both kinds of 3D coding formats such as Stereo Video Coding (SVC) format and 2D + Z Coding format (2D‐plus‐Depth) are selected in our experiments. As a result, our proposal successfully ensures the appropriate quality of service and quality of experience to the end users when the service of stereoscopic IPTV is being delivered.

Peer-Assisted Content Delivery to Reduce the Bandwidth of TSTV Service in IPTV System

With great technologies, emerge new needs and requirements. The progress achieved in Access broadband rates accentuated the demand on IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) services specially Video on Demand (VOD) and Time Shift TV (TSTV) which led subsequently to a great need for efficiency in the use of bandwidth consumed by those services. Optimization solutions are considered by IPTV service providers to lighten the service load especially on Access Nodes uplinks. This paper describes an optimization of TSTV dedicated bandwidth based on a peer-assisting TSTV content delivery, a solution in which the users STBs (set-top-boxes) assist the central TSTV servers in the service fulfillment. For this purpose, for each TSTV request, the STB will be receiving the TSTV stream from a neighbor STB instead of the central server. By using this method, the unicast traffic will not pass through the IP network; it will be a peer-to-peer communication within the access network. Extensive simulation results were included to illustrate the validity of the proposed new solution.

A Combinational LDA-Based Topic Model for User Interest Inference of Energy Efficient IPTV Service in Smart Building

Internet multimedia computing and service is becoming one of the main contributors to global energy consumption in smart building for the coming decades. In particular, Internet protocol television (IPTV) has been regarded as an important source for the Internet multimedia computing and service in our daily lives. With the development of IPTV user interest inference for network resource allocation and energy efficient design, the quality of experience (QoE) has been considered as one of the most prominent evaluation indicators for IPTV service. However, due to the explosive increase of TV programs and user’s mixed interests, how to quickly infer user interest and thus effectively allocate IPTV network resources are still a challenging and urgent problem. Moreover, with the increasing amount of user data, the requirement of real-time processing is more important than before. To handle these issues, we first put forward a new indicator called watching ratio to calculate the proportion of program’s time watched by user, which could measure user’s subjective watching QoE from objective perspective. Then, considering both the users’ current interests and their prospective interests, we propose a combinational latent Dirichlet allocation (cLDA) model and design the associated batch-based Gibbs sampling algorithm for user interest inference. Furthermore, considering the real-time processing demand in applications, we also design an online-based inference algorithm for the proposed cLDA (online-cLDA) model. Experimental results show that the proposed models and algorithms can improve the accuracy of user interest inference which can be beneficial to IPTV resource allocation in an energy efficient design.

Providing IPTV in the IMS network

Providing IPTV in the IMS network is increasingly a problem solved today. All households are gradually passing through innovation and slowly every equipment becomes the so-called intelligent or smart and can be connected to a private or public network where it can be monitored, configured, diagnosed and then repaired.. This same upgrading takes place in television, and its current output is in the form of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) provided in the IP Multimedia Subsystem Network, a new generation network that provides both audio and video data. IMS has originated in 1999 for the 3GPP standard in the 5th edition when switching from a 2G network to a 3G network. It has supported the older GSM and GPRS networks, but also a new UMTS network. In the sixth edition, it also has began to work on WLAN networks, more voice-oriented, or speech recognition services. This paper focuses on the provision of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) in the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network. The aim of our paper is to design IPTV services in the IMS network, define the IMS architecture and the IMS network components such as HSS (Home Subscriber Server), various types of CSCF (Call State Control Function), describe the functionality and services provided by IMS and IPTV and, finally, compare the quality of the IPTV service provided by our network and by network of selected operator.

Designing Two-list Group Program Driven Algorithm for Channel Navigation in Internet Protocol Television

The internet protocol television took the advantage of the convergence of internet services to provide seamless interactivity, time shifting, video on demand and pay per view services. However, zapping delay is a critical problem that deters the switching intention of terrestrial subscribers and widespread of internet protocol television services. This article presents the design of an effective two-list group program driven algorithm that minimises the channel seek distance and channel seek time in order to reduce zapping delay in internet protocol television. The algorithm groups similar channel programs in related service categories such as news, movies, sports, music and documentary to make it easier for channels with similarly aired programs to be identified rapidly among several channels that an internet protocol television offers. The simulated results of the proposed algorithm show that the average seek distance is significantly reduced by 58% when benchmarked with the state of the art numerical ordering, frequency circular ordering and frequency interleaved ordering.

Presentation Deadline-Based Transmission Mechanism for IPTV Services over Wireless Networks

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services over Internet and wireless networks have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Video streaming over time-varying and error-prone wireless networks poses many challenges because it has stringent delay and jitter constraints and requires a smooth packet transmission rate. To overcome such issues, a presentation deadline-based cross-layer design for improving the QoS of IPTV services over wireless networks is introduced. The proposed cross-layer design uses the presentation timestamps in the RTP packet header to derive a presentation deadline for each MAC frame. Subsequently, the wireless Access Point (AP) employs the presentation deadline and the number of retries to determine whether a MAC frame needs to be sent or not. Additionally, the MAC frame size can adapt to the wireless channel conditions. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed transmission mechanism for video frames can avoid a waste of wireless bandwidth resources on transmitting lateness MAC frames. Thus, the proposed cross-layer design achieves a lower lateness loss rate and better application layer goodput for IPTV services.

Dissecting movie performance across multiple distribution channels: An elastic justification theory perspective

The recent emergence of multiple channels such as Internet protocol television (IPTV) and online video-on-demand (VOD) has transformed sequential movie distribution structures into simultaneous ones. We analyze the drivers of movie performance success in terms of box office, IPTV, and online VOD services amid these changed market conditions. We use elastic justification theory and consider diverse consumer risks to explain how movie consumers exhibit different behaviors for different movie channels when facing different degrees and types of risk. We classify the antecedents of movie selection into justifiable (risk-hedging) factors such as viewer rating, scenario familiarity, star power, and country of origin and unjustifiable (tempting and appealing) factors, including expert rating and genre. By considering various types and degrees of risk in each channel based on elastic justification theory, this study offers insights that should lead to more effective movie distribution across channels. This study is a first step toward paving the way for advanced movie distribution strategies for producers and distributors.

Understanding IPTV churning behaviors: focus on users in South Korea

PurposeThis study aims to investigate customers’ churning out of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, one of the most prevalent forms of IT convergence.Design/methodology/approachBased on the review of current literature, a research model is introduced to depict the effects of select independent variables on customer churning behavior. First of all, the two groups are compared in terms of predictor variables, including switching barriers, voice of customer (VOC), membership period and degree of contents usage. Then, a curvilinear regression was applied to understand the association relationship between the level of IPTV contents usage and variables of switching barriers, VOC and membership period. Third, a logit regression was performed to predict customer churning through the variables of switching barriers, VOC, membership period and level of IPTV contents usage.FindingsThrough the empirical analysis, this study analyzed the factors affecting customer churning behavior of IPTV service providers based on switching barriers, VOC and contents usage.Originality/valueAlthough several studies on IPTV have been undertaken globally, they have largely depended on self-reporting surveys to examine dynamics between antecedent variables and IPTV performance in terms of customer satisfaction, usage intension and customer retention. This empirical study is performed to understand influential factors of IPTV service defection through the weblog analysis of 3,906 service users, who represented both service defectors and non-defectors during a specific month.

Parametric Planning Model for Video Quality Evaluation of IPTV Services Combining Channel and Video Characteristics

Parametric planning models are designed for estimating the video quality, which can be applied to effective planning, implementation, and management of network video applications and communication networks. However, different from the bitstream-based evaluation models, the planning models are not allowed to exploit the video streams, with only limited information available for use, i.e., a few general parameters predetermined by the service providers and network operators. In this paper, a parametric planning model combining channel and video characteristics is proposed to estimate the video distortion caused by packet loss for Internet protocol television (IPTV) services. More specifically, the probability distribution of the channel states is determined by detailed analysis of the channel characteristics. Then, considering the influence of burst packet loss and the temporal dependence between frames, several sequence-level and frame-level parameters for video quality evaluation are derived from the perspective of the probability distribution of the channel states. Utilizing these parameters, the proposed model approximates the video quality considering the effects of direct packet loss and error propagation. Experimental results show that the proposed model has a superior performance for video quality estimation than the three commonly used parametric planning models.

QoS Based IPTV Over Mobile WiMAX Networks

Owing to the inherent nature, data packets in internet protocol television (IPTV) systems face two major challenges; loss and delay. On the other hand, there is a stringent constraint of minimum speed to make possible delivery of the right number of frames per second to deliver multimedia content in mobile environment. This implies that the inadequate connection speed and bandwidth available for large IPTV customer base can trim down the service quality delivered. In this paper, we have thoroughly investigated the impact of various factors which affect the key quality parameters in IPTV systems which employs worldwide interoperable microwave access WiMAX. Also, we have proposed to employ smart antenna for WiMAX network. Specifically, we have carried out a detailed study of the effect of the following parameters: (1) transmission power; (2) distance variation; (3) antenna gain; (4) channel bandwidth, and (5) mobility under six different categories of scenarios (1) variable distance between nodes; (2) various modulation techniques; (3) variable transmitted power; (4) variable coverage area; (5) different types of antennas, and (6) variable number of connection. The simulation results showed that WiMAX makes a great development in the proposed IPTV system, while ensuring that packet delay and jitter meet the requirements of video content streaming to access IPTV services anywhere and anytime under the effect of changing power ratings, modulation techniques, and distance through WiMAX coverage area. Therefore, the proposed system satisfies higher throughput rates and solves delay problems; as well as providing a stable and monotonic response for all discussed QoS parameters.

A robust NFC-based personalized IPTV service system

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is becoming a platform that changes the way we obtain information and entertainment, and offers interactive features and personalized services. Although IPTV service providers can perform TV viewer identification and authentication through a unique hardware identifier in the form of a set-top box (STB), it is based on STB-level identification which leads to the situation where all members of a subscriber family get the same level of access to services. This indicates that existing identification schemes are inconsistent with IPTV’s main intent, namely, providing personalized services. Smartphones with NFC (Near Field Communication) capabilities have grown to become very popular over the years. In this study, we present a novel personalized IPTV service system in which NFC-based identification with HCE (Host Card Emulation) is adopted. The experiments and analyses show that the proposed system can meet the system requirements and provide great usability, deployability and service scalability for personalized IPTV services.

Effect of an obesity prevention program focused on motivating environments in childhood: a school-based prospective study.

There has been an increasing global recognition of the need for effective strategies to prevent and control childhood obesity. In this study, we aimed to identify the effectiveness of an obesity prevention program focused on motivating environments in school. In this school-based, prospective, quasi-experimental study, we enrolled three elementary (fourth graders) and two middle (seventh graders) schools located in Chungju, Korea. We assigned three of the schools to the intervention group and two schools to the control group. The intervention group received 1 year of environmental intervention. Diet- and exercise-related educational video content was provided by internet protocol television services during rest time, and various design materials were painted along the school staircase and hallway to encourage physical activities. Overweight and obese students were recommended to join the summer vacation obesity care program. The final number of total participants was 768 (control 350 and intervention 418). After 1 year of follow-up, there was no significant difference in the overweight/obesity incidence rates and remission rates between the two groups. However, the intervention group showed a greater decrease in the body mass index (BMI) z-score (-0.11 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.16 to -0.06), P<0.001), increase in height (1.1 cm (95% CI 0.8 to 1.4), P<0.001), reduction of body fat, and increase in muscle mass compared with the control group. In addition, blood pressure (BP) was significantly reduced, and significant improvement in physical fitness followed. In subgroup analysis, students of normal weight, boys and younger participants showed the most beneficial results in weight-related outcomes. In addition, the BP reduction was more pronounced in the higher BMI group, boys and older children. A simple environmental intervention could effectively influence children. By adding to previously studied strategies, we can develop a more effective obesity prevention program for children.

Study of Minimum Video Quality Guarantee of High Definition-Level Video in IPTV Multicasting Service

Objectives: To analyze the major factors affecting the quality of video on the multicasting service of HD (High Definition)- level video on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Methods/Statistical Analysis: We construct a lab test network environment similar to the real IPTV service network environment and measure the quality of video on the multicasting of HD-level video in IPTV, generating and increasing broadcast traffic in a situation that either applies the Quality of Service (QoS) technique to the network or does not apply the QoS technique. Findings: We discover the threshold value of factors allowing a minimum video quality guarantee on an HD-level multicasting service in IPTV. In order to produce a quality of received images similar to that of the original images and without distortion, the V-Factor value should be 4.6 or higher. When the V Factor value is 4.3, a viewer does not recognize errors in the video, although partial distortion can be displayed. Below a 4.3 V Factor, distortion can be recognized by a viewer, which makes watching IPTV uncomfortable, and with a V Factor below 4.0, IPTV watching is difficult. Application/Improvements: This paper can be used as basic data to guaranteeing this minimum video quality for an HD-level multicasting service in IPTV. Keywords: CoS, HD-Level Video, IPTV, QoE, QoS, V-Factor

Developing a quality prioritization procedure for IPTV service

This study developed a procedure to determine the quality priorities of the internet protocol television (IPTV) service. First, a set of key elements of IPTV service quality was developed based on a literature review and a focus group interview. Second, analytic hierarchy process and the Kano model were applied to identify the requirements of experts and customers, respectively. The experts measured the importance and difficulty of management, whereas the customers measured the satisfaction level and importance of each quality element. Third, quality priorities were calculated through the entropy principle and scenario-based analysis. The proposed procedure is illustrated with a case study of a telecommunications company in Korea.