France Télécom R&D Advanced Interactive Content Olivier Avaro Chairman MPEG Systems and AIC Initiative France Telecom R&D

France Télécom R&D Message è Although standards for advanced interactive content exist, there is no deployment yet. This is due to a lack of roadmap and tools allowing to grow from deployed systems to advanced ones. è MPEG-2/4 standards are proposed as the long term vision. Integration with HTML and DVB-MHP are important milestones of the roadmap. è There is a need of concertation between the various actors of the food chain. Results of this concertation will materialize in an Advanced Interactive Content SDK.

France Télécom R&D Overview è Application and technology for advanced interactive content ‡ ATVEF ‡ DVB-MHP ‡ MPEG-2/4 è Presentation of the AIC Initiative è Advanced interactive content SDK

France Télécom R&D AIC Applications è Advanced Electronic Program Guide; è Buy-me-button; è Data Ticker; è Program Enhancement; è Interactive Home Shopping; è Interactive Commercial; è Interactive Entertainment; è Demographic Programming. è More under definition in the IST projects (ex : NexTV).

France Télécom R&D ATVEF è What : ‡ Triggers in TV signals allowing links to content on the Web. è Pros : ‡ Re-use existing technology and content. è Cons : ‡ Difficult to achieve deterministic behavior with constrained terminals. ‡ Very limited set of media unless you allow the use of plug-ins. ‡ Badly integrated with the deployed MPEG-2 based digital TV infrastructure.

France Télécom R&D DVB-MHP è What : ‡ Java APIs allowing development of content applications. è Pros : ‡ Tightly integrated with the existing digital TV infrastructure. ‡ Flexible and extensible platform (Java based). è Cons : ‡ Difficult to perform conformance testing due to the programmatic nature of the content. ‡ Very limited set of media.

France Télécom R&D MPEG-4 è What : ‡ Multimedia objects representation formats and APIs. è Pros : ‡ Rich media including 2D and 3D scene description. ‡ Tightly integrated with the existing digital TV infrastructure. ‡ Conformance testing defined. è Cons : ‡ Only few tools are available yet.

France Télécom R&D Roadmap DVB-MHP MPEG-4 ATVEF -> MPEG-4 on top of MPEG-2 Integration of HTML in MPEG-4 ATVEF MPEG-4 content in MHP Application

France Télécom R&D AIC Initiative è Goal : Harmonize standards efforts and enable interactive 2D, 3D and streaming content for commerce and entertainment on set top devices. è Charter : Development of interactive content specifications for user devices to offer a range of basic through advanced interactive applications using 3D as well as 2D content, in stored and streamed form. è Organization : The Advanced Interactive Content Initiative (AIC Initiative) applied to be an industry consortium operating under the Industry Technical Agreement (ITA) of the International Electro technical Commission (IEC).

France Télécom R&D Content ProviderService ProviderNetwork Operator Terminal Manufacturer Production-Service Interface Service-Delivery Interface Delivery-Consumption Interface Service Model

France Télécom R&D AIC Principles è Delivery in various transport environments ‡ including MPEG-2 and IP environments, ‡ and combinations of broadcast/interactive delivery. ‡ Focus on MPEG-2 TS. è Presentation engine : ‡ MPEG-4 XMT: One specification for integration of MPEG-4, XHTML (XML-ized HTML 4.0), X3D (XML-ized VRML) and SMIL content. ‡ Focus on high level session description and BIFS commands and animation.

France Télécom R&D AIC Work Plan è Specifications ‡ Definition of interfaces and tools; ‡ Coverage of the end-to-end systems. è Implementation ‡ End-to-end demonstration built from prototypes tools ‡ Content authoring, Server, Network, Client. è Technical demonstration ‡ Real scale trials and presentation in the major forums; ‡ Booth in IBC 2000.

France Télécom R&D

Joining AIC è Why joining : ‡ Influence the development of AIC specification; ‡ Acquire know-how on AIC Systems; ‡ Enable new market and services opportunities with AIC participants. è How to join : ‡ Join the ITA; ‡ Participate to mailing list; ‡ Participate to meetings. è What to participate : ‡ Participate as an observer; ‡ Contribute to the specification; ‡ Contribute to the implementation effort.

France Télécom R&D AIC SDK : Why ? è Enabling factor for the development of AIC market ‡ Make AIC tools available in a single place; ‡ Allow people to test the complete systems; ‡ Allow people to test individual tools with their own systems. è Improve market relevance of AIC tools ‡ Get broader audience; ‡ Get feed-back on the tools individually or on the Systems; ‡ Get feed-back from content authors/producers. è Promotional medium for your own tool; ‡ Make your own tool visible on the market; ‡ Allow your own tool to be tested in a complete environment; ‡ Attached individual copyrights to each tool.

France Télécom R&D AIC SDK : What ? è Introduction ‡ Overview of AIC, achievements, plans. è Specifications ‡ AIC Specification; ‡ Overview of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards. è Software tools ‡ Authoring tools, MPEG-4 on MPEG-2 injector, MPEG-2 servers on IP, MPEG- 2/MPEG-4 Player è Content ‡ AIC Applications. è Projects and Applications ‡ IST Projects, other projects. è Pointers

France Télécom R&D AIC SDK : Who ? è Authoring tools : IBM, CSELT-FT-ENST; è MPEG-4 on MPEG-2 Injector : ETRI, CSELT; è MPEG-2 servers on IP : CSELT, SUN; è MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Player : CSELT 2D player, NexTV/SonG 3D player; è AIC Applications : NoB-IBM-CSELT 2D, FT 3D … è CD burning and shipping : ETRI + sponsors è Please join the party !

France Télécom R&D AIC SDK : When ? è 01/11/2000 : Final structure of the SDK V1.0 and responsibilities. è 14/01/2001 : Contributions received. è 31/01/2001 : Feed-back send to contributors. è February 2001 : CD burnt and shipped. è April 2001 : Presentation in NAB Las Vegas.