A rich media framework for communication-broadcasting converged IPTV

As the trend toward communication and broadcasting convergence grows, a hybrid Internet Protocol television (IPTV) that supports both IP network-based video and traditional TV broadcast is attracting increasing attention. This paper proposes a rich media framework for hybrid IPTV with support of the latest H.264 codec. The problem of software incompatibility along with the resource constraints of IPTV settops limits the adoption of rich media technologies in IPTV environment. Aiming for portability and performance, we propose a media component for hybrid IPTV that features an efficient application interface and sophisticated media processing schemes. Using the media interface, we developed a rich media runtime whose design enables it to fully utilize the built-in graphics acceleration hardware. Through demonstration and experiments, we validate the performance and flexibility of the proposed framework. Our schemes that include ring-structured media stream abstraction, I-frame prefetch via vectored I/O, and adaptive I-frame search proved to greatly enhance the VCR functions in respect of the fulfillment of the requested playback speed and the download throughput. The proposed framework is believed to provide a useful insight into the design of vector graphics and the playback of hybrid media in the applications of IPTV-based advertising, education, and Video-on-Demand (VoD)