IEEE_multimedia_2000

An extensible Set-Top-Box Architecture for
interactive and broadcast Services offering
sophisticated User Guidance
Frank Lonczewski, Rudolf Jaeger
BetaResearch
Betastrasse 1
85774 Unterfoehring, Germany

ABSTRACT this goal. In order to fulfil both requirements, supporting new
services and platform independency, the architecture of modern
Currently available Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) are mainly used for STBs should follow three fundamental design issues:
digital TV reception. The User Interface (UI) and the UI dialog
• A clear separation between the Infrastructure Service
of such a device usually focus on its technological aspects and
Layer (ISL), the Application Service Layer (ASL) and
to a large degree ignore the needs of the user. The impact is that
the Application Layer (AL) on top of the latter must
the user quite often is unsatisfied when interacting with the
be ensured.
device. Recent UI design approaches [9][10] are proving that
• The ASL should provide a generic interface that
the focus should be put on the tasks that the user can perform
platform independent applications can be built upon.
with a STB rather than its underlying technical capabilities.
• The UI should be user task driven rather than
However, modern design approaches both for the STB UI as
technology-driven.
well as its underlying system architecture can be incorporated
into a complete system design with reasonable effort. This
paper presents the architecture of the “d-box”, a STB being Figure 1 shows the principal architecture of modern STBs
used for broadcasting TV services as well as future interactive taking into account the above mentioned design rules. The ISL
services like internet, home-shopping etc. in Germany. The provides the necessary means being used by the ASL which in
layered software architecture employs a Java Virtual Machine turn offers services accessible by all applications. Furthermore
offering a high degree of independency of its underlying a clear separation of the ISL from the ASL also supports the
hardware. Emphasis is put upon the user-friendliness of the roles of future business models which also differentiate
device by providing a uniform UI both for experts and novices, between Infrastructure Service Provider and Application
therefore allowing intuitive and easy access for different user Service Provider.
groups. Role Layer
Application/

[Interactive]
1. INTRODUCTION
Provider
Content

AL
Applications

Set-Top Boxes (STBs) employed in Digital Video Broadcast
Application
Application

ASL
Provider
Service

(DVB) Networks in the past were mainly used for digital TV Services
distribution. They were simply designed to receive and decode
digital encoded video-/audio-data streams [5]. Advances in the
Infrastructure

Infrastructure
Provider
Service

ISL

network standardisation process [4] supporting broadcast and Services
IP-transparent data transmission and the availability of return
channel capability offer new interactive services. Currently a Figure 1. Layered architecture of modern STBs
significant growth in applications where data transfer is
involved in conjunction with video/audio distribution is The architecture of the presented STB called “d-box” is sold on
appearing. A simple example of such applications is the German market for free- and pay-TV. It clearly follows the
internet/WWW access while watching TV. The advancements above mentioned criteria thus offering the necessary means for
of the network infrastructure and the introduction of new the development of user friendly applications which can be run
services [7] require modifications of the software architecture on different underlying hardware and operating system
of currently available STBs. Their software architecture and platforms. The following chapter presents an overview of the
implementation shows a strong monolith structure [11]. In d-box architecture and describes the functionality of the various
particular there is no clear separation between the hardware subsystems. In section 2.3 an in-depth description of the
related software modules and the rest of the software. In modules within the ASL is provided. In section 2.4 emphasis is
consequence, the support of a new hardware platform requires a put upon the Application Layer which incorporates some
lot of effort for adapting pre-existing software. Therefore it is degree of user support for different user populations. Chapter 3
desirable to have a platform independent software architecture summarises the characteristics of the d-box and gives some
with a clear separation between the Application-, Application indication of enhancements planned for the future.
Service- and the Infrastructure Service-Layer. With the
introduction of the JavaTM language [1] it is possible to reach

2. STB ARCHITECTURE modem module (V.90) allows the interface to the PSTN
network. In order to enable IP transparent information transfer
Driven by the above mentioned requirements for the system over satellite an IP-decapsulation module [4] was implemented.
architecture, the STB architecture can be divided into four Thus a high speed downlink to the STB is possible using the
layers, namely the Hardware Layer (HL), the Subsystem PSTN channel both for data requests and acknowledgements.
Service Layer (SSL), the Application Service Layer (ASL) and The third module supports the data carousel mechanism [6]
the Application Layer (AL), cf. figure 2. which is being used for:
Navigator
• downloading software modules (including system
software updates),
Application Space

• downloading various application modules written in
Application

Online Help System
(AL)

Assistants Java or simply for

applications
(provider-
specific)
Managment
∙∙∙ • data broadcasting services (e.g. for a newsticker

other
Setup EPG
Channel
Setup

∙∙∙

other
application, etc.).
Persistent Data Application Services
Application

Parental Ctl
Service

interaction

LCDPanel
Graphic Subsystem
(ASL)

Setup
object
∙∙∙

other
Bouquets
DVB
Configu- User
ration Profiles & library
Services
The Graphics Subsystem implements a 2D graphics engine
which consists of a window server system and a graphic library
Subsystem

V
Service

containing all necessary graphic primitives. A framebuffer DD
(SSL)
Infrastructure

M DVB Graphics Communication
interfaces with the underlying graphics hardware. The Java
Services

Hardware Abstraction Interface
Operating drawing primitives are mapped to the window server API to
System
access the corresponding drawing primitives of the graphics
Hardware

library.
(HL)

DD DD DD ∙∙∙ DD

Devices Hardware CPU Virtual Machine (VM)
All three modules discussed above are interfaced to the Java
Figure 2. Layers of the d-box architecture VM. The Java applications running on the STB are utilizing the
VM. Therefore all platform functionality used by Java
2.1 Hardware Layer (HL) applications is encapsulated by the VM which in turn uses
some libraries contained both in the SSL and the ASL.
All hardware-dependent components are organized in the HL,
namely the CPU, available I/O devices (e.g. the LCD panel) 2.3 Application Service Layer (ASL)
together with their Device Drivers (DD) as well as the
Operating System (OS) of the STB. A clear separation of all The ASL components depicted in figure 2 are an Interaction
hardware related functions is accomplished by the Hardware Object Library, a number of Persistent Data Stores as well as a
Abstraction Interface. It provides a generic interface to all number of Application Services which can be used by
necessary DDs (Video/Audio, Front-End, Ethernet, etc.) and to applications built upon the ASL.
the Subsystem Service Layer (SSL). Thus a change of the
underlying hardware only affects the associated DDs, no Interaction Object Library
changes within higher layers are necessary. In conjunction with The ASL contains a library of reusable interaction objects
the OS the API calls of the Hardware Abstraction Interface (“widgets“) which are used to build the UI of individual
work in a multithreaded fashion, thereby allowing access to applications. The interaction object library is modeled
specific DDs by several subsystems at the same time. according to the MVC paradigm [8]. In comparison to other
available widget sets (e.g. Swing [12]), it is not possible to
2.2 Subsystem Service Layer (SSL) change the look & feel of individual interactive applications
during runtime. Besides the fact that leaving out the support for
The SSL basically is composed of four modules and forms a re-evaluating the layout at runtime minimizes the feedback time
common basis for the ASL. of the STB in response to user interactions, some user studies
currently on their way support this implementation decision
DVB Subsystem since they seem to prove that typical users in the digital TV
The DVB subsystem is responsible for filtering and processing application domain have very little use of such a feature.
all DVB specific data [2][3]. These are the so called Program However, from the standpoint of different providers writing
Specific Information (PSI) and Service Information (SI). They applications for the STB, the look & feel of the interaction
are being used for the configuration of the STB as well as for objects used should be handled flexibly since otherwise this
service selection and the display of channel content information would leave very little freedom for individual providers to
used by the Electronic Program Guide (EPG). distinguish from one another. Therefore, different look & feels
are supported, but after instantiation of a “specific“ look and
Communication Subsystem
feel no support is available to change it on-the-fly.
The Communication Subsystem uses a TCP/IP protocol stack
as a common interface to upper layers. Three physical transport
mechanism are currently being implemented. The standard

Persistent Data Stores • LCDPanel: The LCD panel can be regarded as a
Several persistent data stores are maintained in the ASL. In the separate output channel. Individual applications can
context of this paper, we describe the persistent data stores gain access to the panel to display text and graphics by
required to access digital TV programs as well as those that using this service.
store information about individual user settings.
2.4 Application Layer (AL)
The leftmost data store inside the ASL depicted in figure 2
contains the various configuration settings for the STB‘s The Navigator controls the life cycle of all other applications
individual hard- and software-components (e.g. configuration running on the STB. It also manages the resources of the STB
settings for connected antennas, modem settings, ethernet by observing their usage in the AL. Since Application Services
settings, etc.). Besides these, it also has to maintain provide the only way to access system resources by interactive
configuration settings for other devices in the environment of applications, the Navigator can exercise a very fine grained
the STB which can be controlled by it (e.g. a TV set, a control over the application space of the STB. If a resource
videorecorder and/or other household appliances furnished to conflict occurs and cannot be resolved, the Navigator even has
be controlled by the STB). The rightmost data store contains the possibility to terminate an application.
physical parameter sets required to tune the device to different Together with the Navigator a number of resident applications
broadcaster channels, together with other information that can provide user access to main STB functionalities. The most
be used by an EPG (e.g. bouquets1, channel numbers, visibility important applications of these are the Setup and the EPG. The
attributes) to offer easy and comfortable access to digital TV former provides the functionality to configure various aspects
content for the user. The remaining data store holds data values of STB hard- and software modules stored in the respective
that try to approximate various attributes of individual users data stores, whereas the latter allows the user to gain access to
(e.g. attributes that describe the user’s preferences, in part digital TV services like NearVideo on Demand (NVoD) and/or
configured by the individual user herself as well as attributes multifeed channels belonging to one TV service.
that are evaluated by observing the user’s interactions). By
exploiting the collected data, the STB can offer sophisticated In comparison to various other approaches, the STB
user guidance (e.g. intelligent help [10] and assistant-based architecture under discussion provides more than one way for
user access) under user control. the user to access its features, thereby directly reflecting that
both “novices“ as well as “experts“ are every-day users of the
Application Services STB as an every-day device. To offer appropriate support for
The STB facilitates a strong resource and application life cycle the novice, a number of specialized “assistant“ applications
management. In order to fulfill this goal, all platform (e.g. for configuring the device, for managing the channel list
functionality is encapsulated in services which are controlled of the device, etc.) are available. Since the primary directive of
by a central interactive application called “Navigator”. The all the assistants is to offer easy and guided access to the STB,
Navigator controls the access and resource privileges for all only a subset of relevant features can be accessed, employing a
other applications. The one and only way for individual very literate UI dialog-style. In contrast to this, the expert UI
applications to gain access to platform functionality is to dialog allows a broader and more direct access to STB features,
instantiate service clients controlled by the Navigator. employing a more terse dialog-style well suited for expert
users. An example is shown in figures 3 and 4.
The following application services are a representative set of all
services available in the ASL:
• Parental Control: According to DVB, it is possible to
signal a parental control age with a broadcasted event.
This service encapsulates the functionality that
applications can use to query the state of the parental
control facilities of the STB.
• DVB: This service provides access to all relevant DVB
data structures for individual broadcasting channels as
well as access to detailed information for individual
events. Furthermore, tuning and channel acquiring are
also handled through this service.
• Setup: Applications are allowed to query the
configuration settings of the STB. In addition,
individual applications might also have the required
access privileges to change some of the settings
maintained in the configuration data store.

Figure 3. Assistant UI dialog excerpt
1
In the context of DVB, a bouquet is a meta data structure
bundling together several services, possibly offered by
different content providers.

UI design approaches like CADUI (Computer Aided Design of
User Interfaces) [9] together with intelligent user guidance [10]
and on-line help as well as the advancements in communication
networks, the future of STBs in the multimedial, digital TV
domain seems to be clear: they will subsume traditional, but
previously separated communication means (e.g. telephone,
newspaper, magazine, internet services, etc.) under one
homogeneous roof.

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The STB presented herein summarizes the work of many
people. We specifically would like to thank Michael Brandt,
Martin Mohring, Wolfram Proske, Hartmut Wolf and Jürgen
Figure 4. Expert UI dialog excerpt
Zeller for their major contributions to the project as well as the
whole d-box development team for their effort in realizing it.
The figures show two ways to execute the user task “perform
automatic channel search”. In the “Start Assistant” 5. REFERENCES
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