Provisioning of adaptive rich media services in consideration of terminal capabilities in IPTV environments

Internet protocol TV (IPTV) has emerged as a new platform in converged environments. In particular, due to its support for the convergence of devices, IPTV allows almost every IP-enabled terminal to simultaneously consume the same rich media service delivered over an IP-based network. However, this convergence potentially leads to a significant decrease in both quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) in IPTV services because different terminals present the same service differently based on their capabilities, thus making the service inconsistent. Recently, the LASeR standard, a technology competing for rich media representation, was revised to deal with this problem. This paper presents the relevant amendment of the standard and, using a prototype implementation, shows the effectiveness of the approach taken by the LASeR.