The rapid growth of new wireless and mobile devices accessing the internet has led to an increase in the demand for multimedia streaming services. These home-based wireless connections require efficient distribution of shared network resources which is a major concern for the transport of stored video. In our study, a set-top box is the access point between the internet and a home network. Our main goal is to design a set-top box capable of performing network flow control in a home network and capable of quality adaptation of the delivered stream quality to the available bandwidth. To achieve our main goal, estimating the available bandwidth quickly and precisely is the first task in the decision of streaming rates of layered and scalable multimedia services. We present a novel bandwidth estimation method called IdleGap that uses the NAV (Network Allocation Vector) information in the wireless LAN. We will design a new set-top box that will implement IdleGap and perform buffering and quality adaptation to a wireless network based on the IdleGap’s bandwidth estimate. We use a network simulation tool called NS-2 to evaluate IdleGap and our ActiveSTB compared to traditional STBs. We performed several tests simulating network conditions over various ranges of cross traffic with different error rates and observation times. Our simulation results reveal how IdleGap accurately estimates the available bandwidth for all ranges of cross traffic (100Kbps ~ 1Mbps) with a very short observation time (10 seconds). Test results also reveal how our novel ActiveSTB outperforms traditional STBs and provides good QoS to the end-user by reducing latency and excess bandwidth consumption.

Since the merge of global media, the usage of digital cable is becoming popular in Taiwan. Even though the development of digital cable is difficult, the cable companies realize it is necessary to promote digital cable. Therefore, how do the companies meet the needs of the enormous cable consumers. The first steps are to understand the characteristics of earlier users, focus on target consumers and control and the opportunities of market are definitely becoming very popular topics. This research is based on Rogers¡¦s ¡§Diffusion of Innovations Theory¡¨. It includes five types, profitability¡Bcompatibility¡Bcomplexity¡Busage¡Band observation. This research is to test whether the digital cable meets the characteristics of new technology media. It also discusses the characteristics of earlier adopters based on the change of population, socio-economic status, personality and the trend of media. At the same time, we also examine the difference of samples between 97 cable consumera and 198 non-cable consumers. This helps us to understand the innovation characteristics of earlier adopters. From this research we will discover the similar characteristics of digital cable and other new media technologies. The early adopters except in the population variable of marriage and the personality characteristic embodiment ability, the fate idea, risk withstanding and so on three kind of special characteristics with the non- user, socio-economic status and I communication behavior special characteristic, the two has reveals the difference, therefore we can know sex, the age, the education level, the income condition and communication pathway, user level in digital cable TV uses or not the key aspect. Moreover, this study find out domestic digital cable TV or relative industry can be their promoting reference, at the same time the researcher also give them suggestion for their research and relative research in the future.

All kinds of products have economic, social and environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle. Today’s growing need for electronic devices contributes to the increasing problem within these fields.  The aim of this study is to investigate and determine the impact of a chosen Teracom Group product from a sustainability perspective and to develop recommendations regarding how to proceed, in order to reduce the impact of products. This study is mainly focusing on the environmental aspect of the concept of sustainability. A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a set-top box (STB) is conducted based on chosen indicators by using the software SimaPro. The goal of the assessment is to identify the phases within the life cycle with largest environmental impact and contribute to Teracom Group’s further sustainable work. 18 impact categories are included to express emissions and use of natural resources. The result clearly shows that the production phase has the largest environmental impact within categories such as terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, urban land occupation and metal resource depletion. The use phase affects the environment foremost within climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, ionising radiation, agricultural land use, natural land transformation and water depletion. Transports and the waste scenario only have a small effect on certain categories. The experiences of this study are discussed, demonstrating the difficulty in making an LCA in the position of being at the company purchasing products, not at the company manufacturing them. The company has previously not focused enough on sustainability regarding products. An LCA performed by the supplier would be more reliable due to a better possibility of collecting accurate data. Communication and cooperation between the company and its suppliers are key solutions. Higher requirements during procurement should be put on the products, including demands on performed LCAs with clearly described references and methods, critically review by a third party.

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to provide readers the deployment of IPTV solutions using free software. In this thesis the reader will familiarize with the theory of IPTV, which implies a necessary part of the system, IPTV related protocols and possible errors that can be when running the IPTV service. The work is divided into four parts. The first part discusses the theory. In theory, the reader familiarize with the definition of basic concepts, which are essential elements of the system, the protocols used in conjunction with IPTV and will also be discussed errors that may occur during operation of IPTV services. The second section outlines the architecture of which the reader can find a solution that was implemented in an experimental operation. The third section focuses on the choice of components (hardware and software) that were used in the test sytem. The variants are mentioned, from which the components were selected. The fourth section contains the actual implementation, which describes each components. At the end of the fourth part is inserted configuration files that can be used in case of repeated implementation of the solution.

<p> </p><p>De senaste åren har utbudet av TV-kanaler ökat och det är idag vanligt att man har tillgång till så pass många kanaler att det är svårt att överblicka dem på ett enkelt sätt. Det finns olika tekniker för att sortera fram önskvärd information till användaren, men ingen design är anpassad varken för att hantera den nya förbättrade upplösningen eller de nya intelligenta funktionerna. Detta arbete har formulerats för att få fram ett exempel på hur den förbättrade upplösningen kan utnyttjas i programguiden samt för att få ett gränssnitt mot de intelligenta funktionerna. Egenskaper för programguiden togs fram som stöd för de inledanden pappersskisserna, varefter en välgrundad och detaljerad datordesign gjordes. En implementation i skalbar vektorgrafik (SVG) gjordes i den slutgiltiga prototypen för att demonstrera animationer och användbarhet. Avslutningsvis diskuteras lärdomarna som kan tas från detta arbete.</p><p> </p> / <p><p>The number of available TV channels has increased the last couple of years and it is hard to get a good overview in a simple way. There are different techniques for sorting the information so that the user gets the required information, but no design is adapted neither to handle the new improved resolution nor the new intelligent functions. This thesis has been developed to get an example on how the new improved resolution can be used in the program guide and to get an interface with the intelligent functions. Desirable qualities for the program guide were stated for the sketching phase of the design, and the sketches were subsequently used as outlines for the computer-based design of the program guide. An implementation in scalable vector graphics (SVG) was made in a final prototype to demonstrate animations and usability. Finally there is a discussion about the contributions from this thesis.</p></p>

<p>This thesis evaluates and shows an implementation of a video telephony solution for network connected set-top boxes based on the SIP protocol for managing sessions. </p><p>Unlike other video telephony implementations the set-top box does not handle both audio and video, but only video. A separate phone is used to handle audio. To maintain compatibility with other video telephony implementations, which expect a single SIP device with both audio and video capabilities, a mechanism to merge the audio (SIP-phone) and video (set-top box) into a single entity was developed using a back-to-back user agent. </p><p>Due to the set-top boxes'limited hardware it could be impossible to have video compression and decompression performed by the set-top boxes. However, numerous performance tests of compression algorithms showed that the computational power available in the set-top boxes is sufficient to have acceptable frame rate and image quality in a video telephony session. A faster CPU or dedicated hardware for video compression and decompression would however be required in order to compete with dedicated video telephony systems available today. </p><p>The implemented video telephony system is based on open standards such as SIP, RTP and H.261, which means interoperability with other video telephony implementations, such as Microsoft's Windows Messenger 4.7, is good.</p>

<p>This thesis evaluates the possibility to replace the manufacturer dependent JTAG device used in the production tests of IPTV set-top boxes for storing the boot loader in the main memory in order to start the box for the first time. An FPGA based prototype was built in order to see if it is possible to record the JTAG signals, to an external DDR SDRAM, without understanding them and be able to perform a delayed playback resulting in the same bahavoir as with the original JTAG device.Overall the thesis was succesful and it shows that it is infact feasible to create a JTAG recorder based on an FPGA. A lot of data is used for storing the sequence though so the use of a fast memory is cruicial. However in this thesis the speed of both the recording and the delayed playback was reduced in order to work properly.</p>

A set top box is an embedded device, much like a computer with limited capabilities. Its main purpose is to decode a video signal and output it to a TV. The set top box market is constantly growing and to be competitive in it, a set top box has to be able to do more than only TV. One way to make an attractive product is to give it an appealing user interface. This thesis is a part of a larger work at the company to find new ways to create graphical user interfaces. Its goal is to investigate what SVG implementations that exits, which one that is most suitable for an integration attempt and then perform the integration. Several SVG engines were investigated and one provided by the company was selected for integration. Three ways to integrate the SVG engine were identified. One of these alternatives was to extend the callback interface be- tween the engine and the underlying platform. Because of the good fit with the current architecture this alternative was chosen and implemented. As a part of this investigation a demo application suite of SVG content was also constructed. This investigation resulted in a working integration of the chosen SVG engine on the platform. It has also showed that SVG is a suitable language to build graphical user interfaces on set top boxes.

<p>A set top box is an embedded device, much like a computer with limited capabilities. Its main purpose is to decode a video signal and output it to a TV. The set top box market is constantly growing and to be competitive in it, a set top box has to be able to do more than only TV. One way to make an attractive product is to give it an appealing user interface. This thesis is a part of a larger work at the company to find new ways to create graphical user interfaces. Its goal is to investigate what SVG implementations that exits, which one that is most suitable for an integration attempt and then perform the integration.</p><p>Several SVG engines were investigated and one provided by the company was selected for integration. Three ways to integrate the SVG engine were identified. One of these alternatives was to extend the callback interface be- tween the engine and the underlying platform. Because of the good fit with the current architecture this alternative was chosen and implemented. As a part of this investigation a demo application suite of SVG content was also constructed.</p><p>This investigation resulted in a working integration of the chosen SVG engine on the platform. It has also showed that SVG is a suitable language to build graphical user interfaces on set top boxes.</p>

Este trabalho tem por finalidade aprimorar o Sistema-em-Chip (SoC) desenvolvido para um "Set-Top Box"de Televisão Digital com a capacidade de executar aplicações segundo o Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital (SBTVD) e melhorar o desempenho do novo sistema. A "Rede H.264"e o "GingaCDN", dois projetos desenvolvidos anteriormente relacionados à Televisão Digital, foram utilizados como base para esse trabalho. A Rede H.264 teve como principal objetivo o desenvolvimento de codificadores e decodificadores para o padrão brasileiro. O resultado foi um SoC para "Set-Top Box"que inclui uma interface de usuário, um processador e os decodificadores de áudio e vídeo com suas respectivas interfaces de saída. Por outro lado, o GingaCDN criou uma implementação de referência para o middleware do SBTVD, denominado Ginga. O primeiro passo foi adicionar regras para compilar o Ginga no ambiente de desenvolvimento do SoC, sendo necessárias diversas mudanças na infraestrutura do middleware. O desempenho do sistema é melhorado através de hardware-software codesign onde as primitivas do Ginga que consomem maior tempo de processamento e de processador foram implementadas em hardware. O ganho obtido ocorre devido a dois fatores: o sistema se torna mais rápido e os recursos da CPU são liberados para outras aplicações. Neste trabalho, o alvo foi o subsistema gráfico do middleware, onde o impacto é mais significativo. Um estudo das características do hardware do sistema foi realizado e, então, uma função gráfica foi escolhida e implementada em hardware. Todas as etapas para substituir uma função em software por outra equivalente em hardware são descritas no texto. Entre as contribuições deste trabalho, abre-se espaço para dar continuidade à expansão das capacidades do "Set-Top Box"por meio de módulos de hardware, melhorando a eficiência do SoC para esta aplicação, dito então "Ginga-ready". A experiência pode ser estendida também para auxiliar a geração de middleware para outras plataformas. / This work aims to enhance a System-on-Chip (SoC) designed for Digital Television Set-Top Box in order to run applications according to the Brazilian Television standard (SBTVD) and to increase the performance by hardware. Two previous projects related to the Digital Television, "Rede H.264" and "GingaCDN", were used as base for this work. The "Rede H.264" had as main objective the development of codecs for the Brazilian standard. The result was a SoC for a Set-Top Box which includes a processor, audio and video decoders with output drivers, and user interface. Otherwise, the "GingaCDN" created a reference implementation for the middleware of the SBTVD, called Ginga. The first step was to add rules to compile Ginga on the development environment of the SoC, for which some configuration of the Ginga middleware needed to be changed. Performance improvement was obtained by hardware-software codesign where Ginga primitives that are time and processor consuming could be implemented in hardware. The gain is twofold: the system becomes faster and CPU resources are freed for other applications. In this work, the target was the graphical subsystem primitives of the middleware, where the impact is more significant. A study of the hardware characteristics of the system was made, and then a graphical function was chosen and implemented on hardware. All the steps needed to substitute a software function by an equivalent one implemented in hardware are described in the text. Among the contributions of this work, the way is openned to continue the expansion of the capabilities of the Set-Top Box by efficient hardware modules on a so called "Ginga-ready" SoC. The experience may be useful also to help the generation of the middleware for other platforms.