Uninterrupted Recording and Real Time Content-Based Indexing Service for IPTV Systems

Internet protocol TV (IPTV) is a system to deliver TV content to customers by using IP. It has been deployed worldwide by many IPTV service provides, including AT&T, BT, etc. In addition to the core video services provided by the traditional cable TV and satellite TV systems, IPTV provides much richer user interactions and enables additional value added services. This paper presents a prototype for such kind of service: uninterrupted recording and real time media content indexing service for IPTV platforms. While electronic program guides (EPG) list the TV programs that will be broadcast in the future and allow the users to schedule recording for shows that they are interested in, our prototype empowers the users to search and browse any moment of all recent broadcast content for certain channels. Based on the business interest and requirements, this service can be realized in either a centralized architecture (on the network side) or a distributed one (on the individual client side). The developed user interface can be seamlessly integrated on IPTV platforms, and it has been successfully demonstrated on the set top box (STB).