A Tool to Simulate the Transmission, Reception, and Execution of Interactive TV Applications

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Digital Media Engineering
• Broadcasting Technology

Background:

• Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) offers advanced capabilities beyond traditional television.
• Developing interactive content for iDTV presents challenges compared to standard web applications.
• Existing iDTV simulators primarily focus on the receiver, requiring pre-loaded local content.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel tool, BiS (Broadcast iDTV content Simulator), for more comprehensive iDTV interactive content simulation.
• To address the limitations of current simulators by enabling simulation of broadcast content transmission.
• To facilitate easier and safer development of interactive iDTV applications.

Main Methods:

• Development of a generic and customizable communication protocol for content transmission.
• Implementation of the BiS tool to simulate the over-the-air broadcast of interactive content.
• Integration of Java application execution for content presentation simulation.

Main Results:

• BiS enables simulation of interactive content transmission concurrently with linear TV programming.
• The tool supports the simulation of content reception on the TV receiver.
• A defined communication protocol allows for flexible and adaptable simulation scenarios.

Conclusions:

• BiS provides a more versatile simulation environment for iDTV interactive content development.
• The simulator effectively models the broadcast transmission and reception of interactive elements.
• This approach enhances the development process for interactive television services.