Connected TVs

Introduction

Multimedia Communications Group has developed several applications for connected TV, mainly using Google TV. Applications range from entertainment (live events, movies, games…) to eHealth applications, an also home automation and immersive television, as you can see in the following sections:

 

Interactive platform for the distribution of audiovisual content

COMM has actively participated in the project RAUDOS, where it is developed a multiplatform interactive system for audivisual content distribution,  accessible and adapted to consumers which are able to connect to the platform from a wide variety of electronic devices through a very diverse set of technologies.

COMM has been responsible for developing the interface and associated functionality for connected TVs. The platform offers multimedia content to users as well as different activities and games, as you can see in the following figure:

Regarding the consumption of multimedia contents, these can be consumed either in streaming (real time) or downloaded in the device to display them whenever the user wants. In the latter case, the FLUTE protocol is used for the download of multicast contents.

In terms of activities, the platform offers various applications and games, for example the popular 50×15 contest. In the image below the question is about a famous Spanish riddle: What color was Santiago’s white horse? Options: A) Green; B) Santiago was on foot; C) Albino with spots; D) White. By the way, the correct answer is D.

 

Interactive and personalized information system on audiovisual contents

In a similar line of the aforementioned example, the project GrafiTV develops a system that is able to overlap the information to the audiovisual content to allow the simultaneity of the information. The system is intended for use in connected TV sets and mobile devices.

You can see a demo of the project in web browser environment in the following link.

In addition, the following video shows how the system works on a connected TV:

 

Immersive television

The Immersive TV project, in which COMM has participated, develops an interactive and immersive platform that goes beyond the current 3D, to allow the user to experience the sensation of belonging to the stage that is visualizing and can interact with him in any direction space.

Among the system’s features, the platform offers 3D video and audio playback, interactive graphics superimposed on the video, additional contents in domotic actuators as well as additional content on secondary screens, as you can see in the following videos (audio in Spanish):

In the project, COMM has developed a DVB-IP data gateway. The gateway runs on the Linux driver for DVB and is designed to be easy to be portable to embedded systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi). The gateway decapsulates all data that travels through the DVB network and forwards them over the IP network. The gateway sends the video contents over the RTP protocol and the telegrams (domotic actions commands and XML events) and the signaling messages in UDP protocols defined in the framework of the project. In addition, the gateway is capable of performing synchronization functions. The gateway maintains a relationship between the timestamps embedded in the MPEG-TS stream (PCR) and the local gateway clock. In addition, the gateway implements various mechanisms for signaling the synchronization information.

 

Remote monitoring system through interactive TV

The system developed allows users to be passively monitored using non-intrusive sensors (position sensors, vital signs, electromyography, etc.) as well as in the case of rehabilitation, users can perform controlled exercises with medical experts. In addition, the availability of a system of video-meetings allows to maintain direct communication with patients through the TV as an interface.

The developed system allows to improve the diagnosis and to offer the most effective therapy to achieve a rapid rehabilitation of the patient. A television and Internet access are the only necessary tools to unite doctors and patients in the processes of rehabilitation of muscular ailments. The system is specially designed for patients with back pain that may have mobility problems. From home they can receive diagnosis and treatment.

With this new development, it fills the space that exists between the services that we receive today through the broadband accesses (television, Internet and voice) and what will be the future immersive television.

The patient has at his home a television receiver (IPTV) that allows the execution of interactive applications, as well as various medical sensors related to his ailments (electromyographs, glucometers, pulsometers, etc.). Thus, what the user sees through the TV is an application where you can, on the one hand, enter data into a questionnaire -vital for the therapeutic specialists to better understand the habits of the patient-, send information on the medical data captured and finally users can also visualize the results that the specialist has generated for that particular patient, all through the television and the remote control.

The doctor can expand their prescription through exercises, videos or multimedia guides that the patient can see in a personalized way, or even through questionnaires that the same patient can fill out from their house. In addition, the system has a module that allows communication between therapists and patients in video format. This communication based on videoconferencing is done through the television, taking advantage of the connectivity offered by the IPTV service.

Following videos show the system in operation (audio in Spanish).