Interactive IPTV Applications System
As the transition from all things analog to digital continues, iTV is becoming more and more prevalent. Thanks to increased bandwidth in new networking infrastructure and the great carrying capacity of the compressed digital signal, interactive content can be offered to more and more householders. iTV describes the phenomenon whereby users are enable to actively engage with content on their TV screens. iTV adds an extra layer of functionality to IPTV beyond on-demand and linear programming services.
It can provide viewers with access to further information, communication applications, and the facility to respond to interactive programming. Deployment of interactive applications involves the transition from one-way to two-way communications and passive to active viewing and viewer control. Applications and programming are transmitted to viewers’ set-top boxes and viewers can interact by using a navigational device such as a remote control or a wireless keyboard. Information sent by viewers is directed from the set-top box to a return path to the host’s network server. Deployment of interactive applications has occurred because a digital signal, which is compressed and transmitted at higher speeds in binary code, can carry more interactive content and numerous channels. iTV is distributed to people’s homes by terrestrial, cable, IPTV, and satellite television providers, each of these groups are consistently battling for a place in the viewers’ homes. All of these providers encourage viewers to subscribe to their pay TV, broadband, and telephone services and usually, they offer a variety of packages, which are designed for different audience types and the different budgets of their audiences.
In addition to allowing subscribers to watch linear video programming, IPTV brings Web-like interactivity to the traditional TV viewing experience. It allows service providers to differentiate their offerings from traditional television services. For consumers it allows them to view hundreds of channels, simultaneously record TV material, and access a range of interactive TV services including:
- Electronic programming guide
- IP-VoD
- IPTV browsing
- IPTV e-mail
- DVR centric applications
- Walled garden portal
- Instant IPTV messaging
- IPTV-commerce
- Caller ID for TVs
- IPTV advertising
- Localized video content
- Gaming on demand
- Parental control
- IP based emergency alert systems
- IPTV program related interaction applications
- Personalized channels
- Weather Application
Interactive television will provide genuinely useful applications that enhance the overall user experience of IPTV. Interactive services must be seen as part of the overall infrastructure of delivering television – not just a bolt on.
To get the right interactive services to meet consumer demands will require experimentation. Content providers, broadcasters and network owners need to develop, trial, refine and roll-out interactive services. A lot has been learnt over the past ten years about interactive TV. This knowledge can help inform the design of interactive services for IPTV.
