In January 2009, the
Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) delivered the first release of an
end-to-end solution based on an
architecture that meets the
requirements identified for a set of initial services and features.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Open IPTV Forum has grown from collaboration between Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia Siemens Networks, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony, and Telecom Italia, to a
consortium of fifty members that includes many leading CE manufacturers, network infrastructure/middleware vendors, and service providers in the IPTV industry.
Ericsson Review previously reported an overview of the goals and scope of the Forum in
Open IPTV Forum – Toward an open IPTV standard (Ericsson Review, Vol. 84(2007)3). From the outset, the Forum has chosen to allow for access to services provided over unmanaged networks with no quality-of-service guarantees (the “Open Internet” model – the first attempt of which we are aware in the industry to standardize aspects of this model); and offered by an IMS-based managed network.
OIPF Release 1 covers basic IPTV services including Scheduled Content and Content on Demand as well as additional features, such as interactivity, and integration with managed network-based communications services – for instance, voice caller ID, instant messaging and presence as well as DLNA-based content/devices in the home. The logical architecture defines a home network in which an IMS Gateway provides access to an operator’s managed IMS network (the network interfaces are based on definitions by ETSI TISPAN).
The
solution in Release 1 is specified in seven volumes.- Volume 1 provides an overview of the other six volumes.
- Volume 2 specifies the media formats (the combination of the audio, video, image and system formats) that should be supported. The selection of audio and video formats is based on the ETSI codec toolbox. [Ref. 1]
- Volume 3 specifies how the media format is represented in metadata for the content item. This metadata specification extends, in a compatible way, the Service Discovery and Selection and Broadcast Content Guide specifications defined by the ETSI DVB Program.
- Volume 4 specifies the details of the protocols to be used over various logical interfaces – those between the home network and the service provider network (UNI); the interfaces between the logical entities in the home network (HNI); and the interfaces between network provider functional entities (NPI). NPIs are based on references to the ETSI TISPAN specifications. [Ref. 2]
- Volume 5 provides a browser environment based on CEA-2014 for presentation of user interfaces. The browser environment includes scripting support for interaction with network server-side applications and has been extended with APIs of other end-device functions, such as media control, DRM support and IMS signaling.
- Volume 6 defines a procedural application environment that can be used to intercept and augment services from the network. The procedural application environment is based on the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) platform defined by the DVB for use with an application gateway defined in the logical home network architecture.
- Volume 7 defines the security solution chosen by the Forum for authentication, content and service protection. The Forum has chosen Marlin for content and service protection in end-devices (TVs/set-top boxes) but also offers a logical content and service protection gateway in the architecture that can map from any proprietary protection (DRM or Conditional Access) solution chosen by a service provider to one of two standardized protected interfaces to the TVs/set-top boxes (DTCP-IP or Common Interface Plus).
The OIPF Release 1 specifications will be subject to profiling with a view to testing and certification of devices based on these profiles. It is anticipated that the specification of these profiles and their accompanying test specifications will be published in mid-2009.
With the specification of Release 1 completed, members of the Forum have already begun work on Release 2, which will address
additional requirements for
new services and features. These include targeted and personalized advertisements, access to local and network-based personal video recorders, time-shift functionality, notifications (including emergency notifications), book-marking of content items being viewed, collection of audience metrics, and the ability to transfer an IPTV session from one device to another.
To continue its mission in 2009 and beyond, the Open IPTV Forum will alter its current structure into a legal entity that will allow it to collaborate with other standards-development organizations in a more efficient way while continuing to attract the membership that believes in its goals and results.
