Laisa C. P. Costa

Accessible display design to control home area networks

Recently, the social inclusion and technical aid to assure autonomy to people with disabilities are getting attention all over the world. We present a display design for accessible interaction in home area networks. Based on a research on the accessible interfaces state of the art, an interface design was proposed. This interface was implemented over a Tablet that controls the domestic devices through a home network controller prototype. In order to evaluate the design, a research was conducted, interviewing people with disabilities in Brazil. This research consolidated a feasible accessible interface to control home area networks pointing out the main requirements for home area networks considering a diversified group of impairments.

The Brazilian digital television system access device architecture

In early 2003, the Brazilian government accelerated the decision process on analog to digital transition of terrestrial TV broadcast infrastructure, naming this initiative The Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD). This paper describes the access device architecture we have proposed for the SBTVD, as well as related issues. We focused on several requirements among which: flexibility to support the social economical diversity enabling market implementations that can vary on cost, complexity and applications; digital inclusion targeting a minimal cost architecture providing a simple access device to information and services by convergent broadcast and point-to-point telecommunication means; and scalability targets incorporating state-of-the-art technology, considering emerging services and the current legacy analog TV infrastructure available in Brazil. We cover the following specific topics: an architecture overview considering scalability, interoperability and regional and international requirements, operating system and middleware interfaces, audio and video coding formats and associate standards, technical and economical analysis, usability and user interface consistency. Finally two prototypes for the outlined access device architecture are reported.

Over the air download for digital television receivers upgrade

Over the air download is an important feature for terrestrial digital television systems. It provides a cheaper option for DTV receiver manufacturers to provide bug fixes and quality improvements to their products, allowing a shorter time to the market. This paper presents a mechanism proposal of an over the air download software update for the Brazilian system. This mechanism was specified considering the Brazilian DTV over the air download specifications, but it was extended considering efficiency, reliability and user transparency as requirements for software update. A proof of concept was implemented on a Linux based set-top box. The mechanism is divided into five main functional parts: download schedule, packets download, packets authentication, installation and error robustness. Some analyses were conducted upon the implementation considering the following criteria: download robustness and maximum downloading rate.

A technical analysis of digital television broadcasting in brazil

The digitalization of terrestrial television broadcasting systems has been carried out in many countries around the world. Replacing the previous analogue video signal by the high-definition digital video has provided several technical benefits to the population, and nowadays it is an irreversible change. In Brazil, this process began in 2007, when the first terrestrial broadcasting of digital television was launched in Sao Paulo City. The Brazilian Digital Television system is referred as to ISDB-T B, because it is mostly based on the system called ISDB-T, which was originally developed in Japan. This paper presents a technical overview of this system in Brazil, and also reports its current status from a technical point of view regarding transmission features. Measurements of several transmission parameters are presented and followed by an analysis of the system situation in Brazil.

Cloud computing applied to the development of global hybrid services and applications for interactive TV

This paper aims to present a model for an interactive and hybrid digital TV focused on global services and applications framework. The model proposed aims to improve the hybrid broadcast-broadband model with features which run worldwide using a PaaS cloud service, browser applications in a global compliance and second screen scenarios involving pervasive computing. The proposed architecture and a development baseline analysis indicate the feasibility to develop a global interactive TV scenario.

A framework design for connected television

This paper presents a software framework to implement connected television. The connected television framework is responsible to support applications running on the television receivers, but also to take advantage of remote processing. It was developed a framework based on free software tools and implemented on a reference set-top box. Sample applications were developed and a set of performance tests was ran. The work results show a framework that is based on free software and that had satisfactory performance.

Analysis of coexistence of Ginga and HbbTV in DVB and ISDB-Tb

In this paper, we examine the possible coexistence of Ginga and HbbTV as interactive TV (iTV) systems in the Brazilian and European broadcasting systems, ISDB-Tb and DVB, respectively. We compare both systems architectures, in particular with respect to their functional modules. Our analysis provides the necessary information to assess the possibilities of a joint framework that includes both Ginga and HbbTV, consequently leading to a potential foundation of a system that supports both Ginga and HbbTV applications.

Accessibility in Digital Television: Designing remote controls

Free to air television is still an important tool to provide information and communication in many countries. Therefore, the universal access to the television system is very important. This paper presents a set of Digital Television accessible remote control devices designed for the Brazilian Digital Television. A research was conducted, interviewing people with disabilities in Brazil. Three remote control models were proposed, consolidating the main identified requirements, being accessible for a diverse group of impairments.

Swarm OS control plane: An architecture proposal for heterogeneous and organic networks

Swarm is a heterogeneous distributed collection of cooperating things. It enables an extension of the info-sphere into the physical world. This work presents a framework architecture proposal to the Swarm. Envisioning the Swarm ecosystem, challenges and characteristics were identified and a control plane for the framework was proposed. In order to exercise this framework, a use case was designed and a proof of concept was deployed. The work presents a computational control plane architecture proposition for organic and heterogeneous networks leveraging the Swarm concept.

Interoperability analysis for Ginga-NCL and HbbTV application players

This paper presents an interoperability analysis of Ginga-NCL and HbbTV applications, which consist on using a NCL player implemented as a web application to be executed on an HbbTV platform. This work presents the integration of a web-based NCL player and the subsequent testing using an HbbTV emulator.