IPTV Systems Research Articles

Improving channel availability of tree-topology-based IPTV networks with users zapping channels sequentially

In service provider-based internet protocol television IPTV systems, users' sequential zapping behaviour can introduce extra traffic load in transmission networks, which may greatly degrade user quality of experience QoE. In this paper, we focus on improving TV channel availability one most crucial QoE metric in tree-topology-based IPTV networks with users zapping channels sequentially. Firstly, the impact of the sequential zapping behaviour on channel availability is illustrated by a comparative study. Subsequently, aiming to alleviate this impact, we propose an extended intentional switching delay iSD admission control method with a two-layered base/enhancement layer scalable video coding SVC profile for tree-topology-based IPTV networks. Comprehensive simulation experiments are carried out and show that, in both peak-hour and stationary scenarios, the iSD method can significantly improve the channel availability and hence can enhance user QoE in bandwidth restricted IPTV delivery networks, with only slightly increasing the average service delay of channel enhancement layers.

Bloom filter-based scalable multicast: methodology, design and application

Bloom filter based multicast has recently been proposed as a promising methodology for scalable multicasting. The basic idea underpinning this family of multicast mechanisms is to encode the multicast routing information into a Bloom filter carried in the packet. Thus, the routers are relieved from maintaining per-group forwarding states and able to support multicasting with improved scalability, compared to traditional IP multicast. In this article, we first review the evolution path of multicast protocols to shed light on the impetus that had driven the multicasting technology forward. We then discuss several representative Bloom filter based multicast protocols, with revealing their core design issues. While multicast is normally considered the most efficient way for delivering multimedia services, how to fully leverage the advantages of Bloom filter based multicast protocols to facilitate multimedia delivery is still an open issue. In this regard, we present a design that exploits a Bloom-filter based multicast protocol to accelerate the channel zapping in an IPTV system. Moreover, we point out the open research issues hoping to promote new development in the field.

The Implementation of a Web System for the Remote Management of IPTV Contents

According to analysis at SNL Kagan, the market share of IPTV is rapidly growing whereas the market share of cable TV is slowly shrinking. This paper introduces an ‘Open IPTV System’ which allows a subscriber to easily open his or her own IPTV broadcasting station. In the ‘Open IPTV System’, operators must be present at the office to access the content management system (CMS). We implement a web CMS so that the operators can access the CMS anytime and anywhere as long as they are connected to Internet.

Design and Implementation of OTT Services Based on IPTV STB

Currently, the main disadvantages of OTT services are live video delay and video quality assurance while OTT services have many interactive contents. In contrast, IPTV reception effect is better however policy restrictions, incomplete standards and lack of content are the IPTV deficiencies. Therefore, this paper proposes a method of implanting OTT services into IPTV system. The design and implementation maintain the intrinsic IPTV services and ImageMagick is used to present OTT services in IPTV set-top box (STB) according to the current IPTV industry standards. Meanwhile, the services can be designed through the management software. Finally, the OTT services based on IPTV STB can enrich IPTV video content and enhance user interactive experience.

Providing Fast Channel Switching in P2P IPTV Systems

In spite of the increasing deployment of IPTV services, various functionalities still need to be improved. One of the main challenges is a reduction in startup delays, especially in channel switchings, a problem which is quite relevant in P2P IPTV systems due to bandwidth limitations, as well as the employment of buffers and overlay structures. This paper presents and compares four novel schemes for providing fast channel switching that reduce the occurrence of latency. The results suggest that, in general, the proposed schemes are all capable of performing 68% of all channel switchings instantaneously on average. Moreover, the Fast 2 scheme, which presented the best performance, reduces the overall stream quality received less than 19%, on average.

The Design of IPTV STB Based on Android

IPTV is a new TV style. IPTV STB is the key device of IPTV system. In this paper, we will select the ARM9E as the embedded chip. We designed a new IPTV STB based on Android system. The system structure chart of STB may be helpful for the IPTV system.

A survey of channel switching schemes for IPTV

In spite of the increasing deployment of IPTV services, various functionalities still need to be improved. One of the main challenges is a reduction in startup delays, especially in channel switching, a problem that is quite relevant in IPTV systems due to bandwidth limitations, as well as the employment of buffers and distribution structures. The problem is essentially more serious in P2P IPTV systems, since the dynamic nature of P2P networks requires larger buffers and the exchange of more signaling messages to establish the overlay structures. Since users expect to be able to switch channels quickly, IPTV services must reduce startup delays to just a few seconds or even milliseconds. The aim of this article is to provide a survey of existing channel switching schemes for IPTV systems.

웹 서비스를 이용한 콘텐츠 원격 관리 시스템 프로토타입 구현

다양한 융합 중, 가장 모범적인 융합은 방송과 통신의 융합인 IPTV라고 볼 수 있다. IPTV에 대한 수요가 급격히 증가하여 근래에는 스마트 TV도 등장하였다. IPTV 사업의 성공 요소 중 가장 중요한 요소 중 하나가 콘텐츠이다. 인기 있는 콘텐츠를 가입자들이 감상하기 쉽게 제공한다면 성공할 가능성이 아주 크다. 그래서 콘텐츠 관리 모듈은 IPTV 시스템을 구성하는 매우 중요한 요소 중 하나이다. 현 IPTV 시스템에서는 콘텐츠 관리 모듈을 사용하려면 반드시 사무실 책상에 앉아서 처리해야만 한다. 본 논문은 운영자가 인터넷에 연결만 되어 있다면 언제 어디에서나 콘텐츠 관리 시스템에 접속할 수 있는 콘텐츠 관리 웹 시스템을 구현한다. One of the most typical examples of convergence is IPTV, a convergence of broadcast and telecommunication. Demand for IPTV has been increased so rapidly that a new TV set, called a smart TV, has appeared. One of the most important factors for IPTV business success is content. If an IPTV station provides popular content and subscribers can conveniently watch it then the station has a good chance of success. Therefore, the content management module is extremely important component of IPTV systems. In the current IPTV systems, operators must be present at the office to access a Content Management System(CMS). We implement a web CMS so that the operators can access the CMS anytime and anywhere as long as they are connected to Internet.

A novel P2P IPTV system for IPv4/v6 networks

As IPv4 address pool has been completely depleted and the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 has become a trend, P2P video streaming through IPv4/v6 hybrid network is now needed, for equipments with different types of IP addresses widely exist on the Internet. Traditionally, large-scale commercial P2P-IPTV systems have been deployed in IPv4 networks. However, these systems do not support equipments with IPv6 addresses and cannot work in IPv4/v6 hybrid networks. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel dual-stack-based architecture to distribute contents to different networks. The core element of the system is the dual-stack tracker which makes all equipments with IP address interconnect with each other and form a hybrid network. Meanwhile, equipments with IPv4/v6 addresses act as bridges, which distribute contents to IPv4 and IPv6 networks. The paper focuses on how to make all equipments with different types of IP addresses work in one system, analyzing the architecture and performance results related to the use of IPv6 bandwidth. This system has been deployed and broadcasted the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa with 755 kbps video stream, and our results demonstrate the feasibility of video over IPv4/v6 hybrid network for a representative application.

The Analysis and Research of IPTV Set-Top Box System

IPTV has great value for media provider and consumer interaction, and it also can be configured in a number of functions to complete the user selection. This paper is mainly to introduce the key technology and protocol standards of IPTV related theory and IPTV set-top box. On the basis of this study high-definition IPTV system based on ST-7109 is designed. On the ST-7109 platform, the embedded terminal broadcast of the streaming media is realized by using embedded Linux software. The text also researches ST7109 module internal resources, as well as designs good source decoder hardware circuit on the base of peripheral interface circuit of the function; it also finishes the design and analysis surround set-top box software, function module, real-time operating system Linux.

Contextualized monitoring and root cause discovery in IPTV systems using data visualization

This article describes the architecture and design of an IPTV network monitoring system and some of the use cases it enables. The system is based on distributed agents within IPTV terminal equipment (set-top box), which collect and send the data to a server where it is analyzed and visualized. In the article we explore how large amounts of collected data can be utilized for monitoring the quality of service and user experience in real time, as well as for discovering trends and anomalies over longer periods of time. Furthermore, the data can be enriched using external data sources, providing a deeper understanding of the system by discovering correlations with events outside of the monitored domain. Four supported use cases are described, among them using weather information for explaining away the IPTV quality degradation. The system has been successfully deployed and is in operation at the Slovenian IPTV provider Telekom Slovenije.

Assessing quality of experience for high definition video streaming under diverse packet loss patterns

This paper presents an approach for deriving a QoE model of High Definition video streaming in the presence of different patterns of packet losses. The goal was achieved by using the SSIM video quality metric, temporal pooling techniques and content characteristics. Subjective tests were performed in order to verify the proposed models. The impact of several network loss patterns on diverse video content was analysed. The paper also deals with the encountered difficulties and presents intermediate steps to give a better understanding of the final result. The research aims to evaluate the perceived performance of IPTV and video surveillance systems. The model has been evaluated in the Quality of Experience (QoE) domain. The final model is generic and shows high correlation with the subjective results.

IPTV-RM: A Resources Monitoring Architecture for P2P IPTV Systems

Resources monitoring is an important problem of the overall efficient usage and control of P2P IPTV systems. The resources of IPTV can include all distributing servers, programs and peers. Several researches have tried to address this issue, but most of them illuminated P2P traffic characterization, identification and user behavior. The main contributions of this paper are twofold. Firstly, a resources monitoring architecture for P2P IPTV systems, IPTV-RM, was presented based on previous work. The monitoring architecture employs a hierarchical structure and provides systemic monitoring including resources discovery, relative information extraction and analysis, trace and location. It gives a systematic framework for IPTV resources monitoring. Secondly, a distributed program crawling system (DMP-Crawler) was first proposed to collect information of programs, and a peer crawling system was put forward to harvest peers of a program. The results show that they are efficient and can be used for resource collection of other P2P system.

Calidad de servicio en proveedores de servicios IPTV

La posibilidades de interactividad propias de la IPTV (e.g., video bajo demanda, pago por ver, E-Learning), hacen prever, a corto plazo, el fortalecimiento de su presencia en el país. Esa masificación, sumada al hecho de ser un servicio que se presta en tiempo real y a su reconocida sensibilidad a la latencia, los retardos y la pérdida de paquetes, constituyen un reto para proveer un servicio que reúna las expectativas de calidad de sus usuarios. En esa tarea, administrar la prioridad en el tráfico puede ser fundamental. Los mecanismos de QoS (Quality of Service) pueden ser un gran aliado, al permitir el manejo rápido de aplicaciones de misión crítica. El artículo inicia con una visión general de la IPTV, sus servicios y arquitectura; la presentación de algunos conceptos aplicados al tema (e.g. QoS, QoE, IPTV sobre ADSL) y cierra con la presentación de mecanismos de calidad de servicio aplicados a IPTV y una valoración de la situación de dos proveedores de este servicio en Colombia.

Standard-Compliant Content Adaptation in IPTV Systems

IPTV, which is based on the universal IP infrastructure, has the inherent nature of heterogeneity in terms of content, networks, terminals, and users. An important solution to cope with such heterogeneity is content adaptation. This paper reviews the standardization issues related to content adaptation in IPTV standards. We first describe the basic architecture of content adaptation and its integration into the ITU-T IPTV architecture. Then typical methods of content adaptation in practical IPTV systems are discussed in detail. Especially, we highlight the standard metadata tools that are potential to support adaptation methods within ITU-T IPTV architecture. Some recent developments in other standard bodies are also discussed.

A Protocol Review for IPTV and WebTV Multimedia Delivery Systems

This paper reviews the key protocols used for multimedia delivery both over privately owned managed IP Networks such as IPTV and public non-managed IP Networks such as WebTV. Within these two worlds, the choice between protocols is based on the characteristics of the multimedia service required, the media server and the client's receiver.Users have different expectations of these two delivery platforms and also of different output devices such as TV, PC, tablet or mobile phone. In an IPTV environment, which is a paid-service, users demand the Quality of Service (QoS) they pay for; different quotas provide different services to users. On the other hand, with WebTV, which is a free service, clients have lower quality expectations.There are multiple multimedia delivery systems used across both platforms, using different protocols to deliver multimedia from server to one or multiple clients. These include Real-Time Protocol (RTP), Real-Time Control Protocol (RTCP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Microsoft Smooth Streaming Protocol (MS- SSTR).RTP, RTCP and RTSP are the main protocols used in IPTV while RTMP, HTTP, HLS and MS-SSTR are protocols used mainly for WebTV. This paper will explore the main differences and similarities between them and the reasons behind the choice of one or the other. This review paper also briefly outlines a testbed being developed by the authors to synchronise media streams using a subset of these protocols.

P2P 스트리밍 시스템을 위한 TTL 기반 피어 그룹핑 기법

본 논문에서는 P2P 기반의 IPTV 시스템에서 TTL을 이용해서 지역성을 반영하는 피어 그룹핑 기법을 제안한다. 이 기법은 두 피어 사이의 경유 라우터 수를 최소화하도록 이웃 피어를 선정하여 중간 라우터들이 전송해야 하는 데이터 양이 감소한 만큼 네트워크 대역폭을 절약할 수 있다. 또한 본 논문에서 제안하는 TTL 기반의 피어 그룹핑 기법이 기존의 RTT 기반의 기법에 비해 성능이 향상되는 것을 보이기 위해 다양한 시뮬레이션 시험을 수행하였다. 실험 결과는 본 논문에서 제안하는 TTL 기반의 피어 그룹핑 기법이 전체 라우터들이 전송하는 데이터 및 제어패킷 용량뿐만 아니라 지터 비율도 감소시킬 수 있다는 것을 보인다. In this paper, we propose a new peer grouping scheme to consider locality among peers using TTL values in P2P-based IPTV systems. This scheme can select neighbor peers to minimize the number of intermediate routers between each pair of peers. Thus, it can save the network bandwidth as much as the amount of data that the reduced number of routers should transmit In addition, we have conducted various simulation experiments to show that our proposed TTL-based peer grouping scheme can outperform the conventional RTT-based grouping scheme. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme can reduce the jitter ratio as well as the number of data and control packets that all routers should transmit.

Neighbor Gradient-based Multicast Routing for Service-Oriented Applications

With the prevalence of diverse services-oriented applications, such as IPTV systems and on-line games, the current underlying communication networks face more and more challenges on the aspects of flexibility and adaptability. Therefore, an effective and efficient multicast routing mechanism, which can fulfill different requirements of different personalized services, is critical and significant. In this paper, we first define the neighbor gradient, which is calculated based on the weighted sum of attributes such as residual link capacity, normalized hop count, etc. Then two distributed multicast routing algorithms which are neighbor Gradient-based Multicast Routing for Static multicast membership (GMR-S) and neighbor Gradient-based Multicast Routing for Dynamic multicast membership (GMR-D), are proposed. GMR-S is suitable for static membership situation, while GMR-D can be used for the dynamic membership network environment. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed methods.

QoS Supported IPTV Service Architecture over Hybrid-Tree-Based Explicit Routed Multicast Network

With the rapid advance in multimedia streaming and multicast transport technology, current IP multicast protocols, especially PIM-SM, become the major channel delivery mechanism for IPTV system over Internet. The goals for IPTV service are to provide two-way interactive services for viewers to select popular program channel with high quality for watching during fast channel surfing period. However, existing IP multicast protocol cannot meet above QoS requirements for IPTV applications between media server and subscribers. Therefore, we propose a cooperative scheme of hybrid-tree based on explicit routed multicast, called as HT-ERM to combine the advantages of shared tree and source tree for QoS-supported IPTV service. To increase network utilization, the constrained shortest path first (CSPF) routing algorithm is designed for construction of hybrid tree to deliver the high-quality video stream over watching channel and standard quality over surfing channel. Furthermore, the Resource Reservation Protocol- Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) is used as signaling mechanism to set up QoS path for multicast channel admission control. Our simulation results demonstrated that the proposed HT-ERM scheme outperforms other multicast QoS-based delivery scheme in terms of channel switching delay, resource utilization, and blocking ratio for IPTV service.

Análisis del mensaje publicitario sobre la audiencia segmentada de la IPTV

Este artículo se centra en el análisis de algunas de las innovadoras alternativas que ofrece Internet, en simbiosis con la „televisión a la carta‟, como la IPTV. Se estudia el nuevo sistema como atractiva plataforma publicitaria para anunciantes, y cómo éstos se benefician de la nueva y determinante segmentación de las audiencias. Se traza una panorámica sobre la importante penetración que ha tenido Internet en la propia vida de las personas, condicionando su acercamiento a cualquier fenómeno comunicativo. Se efectúa un trabajo de campo mediante la descripción y la cuantificación de alternativas que registran los mejores resultados en el aspecto publicitario dentro del mismo formato IPTV. Se estudian dos de los sistemas de IPTV que hoy día funcionan en España (Imagenio, Yatv), y se analizan metodologías del discurso publicitario que aprovechan el recurso de la cercanía para mejorar sus posibilidades de impacto, impulsando el consumo de un producto concreto. Se exploran, asimismo, los nuevos diseños del mensaje publicitario que rompen con el concepto de spot tradicional asociado, sobre todo, a las cadenas de televisión generalista.