Mobile Television Services Are Described
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ESPOO 2003 VTT PUBLICATIONS 506 VTT PUBLICATIONS 506 Watching television from a wireless pen tablet or pocket-sized terminal is interesting in many situations. Public and private transportation vehicles, and public places are potential environments for mobile television services. Even in homes, mobile television handsets are interesting, both as a personal Mobile television - technology and user experiences. Report on the ... television set and as a tool for establishing closer interaction with the television programs. This publication presents results about people´s real interest in mobile television. The results come from interviewing a large number of persons and from building and trialing a prototype system. A total of 293 people took part in the interviews and the trial. The trial system combined several types of wireless networks in a 4G fashion. It took digital terrestrial television broadcasts from the air and delivered them over the Internet to mobile terminals in hot-spot areas covered by Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). Two kinds of terminals were used - a pocket-sized PDA and an A5- sized tablet PC. In the field trial the user could watch almost the entire program content of the three leading Finnish TV channels. The user was also able to access all programs transmitted during the previous week from the media server (TV-Anytime feature). This publication is intended for producers and distributors of television content, as well as for people in the handset device industry; it is also useful for students and people who are generally interested in the future of television. The publication starts with a review of television usage patterns and early experiences of digital television and mobile television trials around the world. Thereafter, mobile television is placed in a broader media landscape Caj Södergård (ed.) and social context, and the design and implementation of the prototype is described. At the end, the user experiences of the prototype system are given. Finally, perspectives for developing mobile television services are Mobile television - technology and user drawn up. experiences Report on the Mobile-TV project Caj Södergård (ed.) Caj Tätä julkaisua myy Denna publikation säljs av This publication is available from VTT TIETOPALVELU VTT INFORMATIONSTJÄNST VTT INFORMATION SERVICE PL 2000 PB 2000 P.O.Box 2000 02044 VTT 02044 VTT FIN–02044 VTT, Finland Puh. (09) 456 4404 Tel. (09) 456 4404 Phone internat. +358 9 456 4404 Faksi (09) 456 4374 Fax (09) 456 4374 Fax +358 9 456 4374 ISBN 951–38–6241–0 (soft back ed.) ISBN 951–38–6242–9 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/) ISSN 1235–0621 (soft back ed.) ISSN 1455–0849 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/) VTT PUBLICATIONS 506 Mobile television – technology and user experiences Report on the Mobile-TV project Caj Södergård (ed.) VTT Information Technology ISBN 951–38–6241–0 (soft back ed.) ISSN 1235–0621 (soft back ed.) ISBN 951–38–6242–9 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/) ISSN 1455–0849 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/) Copyright © VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland 2003 JULKAISIJA – UTGIVARE – PUBLISHER VTT, Vuorimiehentie 5, PL 2000, 02044 VTT puh. vaihde (09) 4561, faksi (09) 456 4374 VTT, Bergsmansvägen 5, PB 2000, 02044 VTT tel. växel (09) 4561, fax (09) 456 4374 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Vuorimiehentie 5, P.O.Box 2000, FIN–02044 VTT, Finland phone internat. + 358 9 4561, fax + 358 9 456 4374 VTT Tietotekniikka, Tekniikantie 4 B, PL 12041, 02044 VTT puh. vaihde (09) 4561, faksi (09) 456 7052 VTT Informationsteknik, Teknikvägen 4 B, PB 12041, 02044 VTT tel. växel (09) 4561, fax (09) 456 7052 VTT Information Technology, Tekniikantie 4 B, P.O.Box 12041, FIN–02044 VTT, Finland phone internat. + 358 9 4561, fax + 358 9 456 7052 Technical editing Maini Manninen Edita Prima Oy, Helsinki 2003 Södergård, Caj (ed.). Mobile television – technology and user experiences. Report on the Mobile- TV project [Mobiilitelevisio – tekniikka ja käyttäjäkokemukset]. Espoo 2003. VTT Publications 506. 238 p. + app. 35 p. Keywords user interface, portable terminals, mobile terminals, visualisation tests, interactive television, TV-Anytime, mobile digital television Abstract Watching television from a wireless pocket-sized terminal or phone is interesting in many situations. Public and private transportation vehicles and public places are potential environments for mobile television services. Even in homes, mobile television handsets are interesting, both as a personal television set and as a tool to establish a closer interaction with the television programs. In addition to these possibilities for enriching viewer experience, mobile television offers the broadcaster new audiences, the teleoperators a new distribution channel and the equipment manufacturer new receiver product possibilities. In fact, television is the only major media missing from today´s mobile phones. In this study we empirically investigated people´s real interest in mobile television by interviewing a large population and by building and trialling a prototype system. The system combines several types of wireless networks in a 4G fashion. It takes digital terrestrial television broadcasts from the air and delivers them over the Internet to mobile terminals in hot-spot areas covered by Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). Content is also delivered over the GPRS cellular network. Two types of terminals are used – a pocket-sized PDA and an A5-sized tablet PC. The digital television signal is transcoded down to a bit rate suiting these terminals. In the field trial the user could watch almost the complete program content of the three leading Finnish TV channels. The user could also access all programs transmitted during the previous week from the media server (TV-Anytime feature). Ordinary families, leisure users, workers and students participated in the trial. Each user tried the service at WLAN hot-spots during one month. The users clearly considered the service to be television, not wireless multimedia. This underlines that new services should be rooted in known user interfaces. The most liked feature was the ability to watch programs from the archive whenever the individual wanted. Typically, the user surfed through the program lists and 3 checked what had passed unnoticed. The users normally watched short programs or pieces from longer programs. Children in particular – even preschoolers - liked the service; in some cases even so much that it replaced the ordinary television. News programs were most popular among the adults. Additional information was seldom retrieved and searches were even more rare. Typical use would be when waiting for something or when killing time or more generally in the same situations, where one would normally read an evening newspaper. The users were prepared to pay about the price of a newspaper for the service. This study clearly indicated that the mobile device is, in many respects, better suited to interactive applications than normal television. This notion is the starting point for a follow-up project. Another topic for future research is how to remake television content so that it optimally suits mobile devices. 4 Södergård, Caj (toim.) Mobile television – technology and user experiences. Report on the Mobile- TV project [Mobiilitelevisio – tekniikka ja käyttäjäkokemukset]. Espoo 2003. VTT Publications 506. 238 s. + liitt. 35 s. Avainsanat user interface, portable terminals, mobile terminals, visualisation tests, interactive television, TV-Anytime, mobile digital television Tiivistelmä Television katselu langattomalta taskukokoiselta laitteelta tai matkapuhelimelta on kiinnostavaa monessa tilanteessa. Julkiset ja yksityiset kulkuvälineet ja julki- set tilat ovat mobiilitelevision potentiaalisia käyttöympäristöjä. Myös kodeissa ovat pienikokoiset mukana kulkevat TV-päätteet kiinnostavia sekä henkilökoh- taisena televisiona että välineenä läheisempään vuorovaikutukseen televisio- ohjelmien kanssa. Paitsi että mobiilitelevisio tarjoaa mahdollisuuksia rikkaam- paan katselukokemukseen, se tarjoaa televisioyhtiölle uusia katseluryhmiä, tele- operaattorille uuden jakelutien ja päätelaitevalmistajalle potentiaalisia tuotteita. Televisiohan on ainoa päämedia, joka vielä puuttuu nykyajan puhelimista. Tässä työssä on kokeellisesti tutkittu ihmisten todellista kiinnostusta mobiili- televisiota kohtaan haastattelemalla iso määrä ihmisiä, sekä rakentamalla ja kokeilemalla prototyppijärjestelmää. Järjestelmä yhdistää useantyyppisiä langat- tomia verkkoja 4G-tapaisesti. Se poimii digitaaliset maanpäälliset lähetykset ilmasta ja jakelee niitä eteenpäin Internetissä yli mobiilipäätteille langattomien lähiverkkojen (WLAN) kattamilla alueilla. Sisältöjä voidaan myös siirtää GPRS- solukkoverkon yli käyttäjille. Kahdentyyppiset päätelaitteet ovat käytössä – taskukokoinen kämmentietokone (PDA) ja A5-kokoinen Tablet-PC. Digitaaliset televisiosignaalit transkoodataan bittinopeuteen, joka sopii näille päätteille. Kenttäkokeessa käyttäjä pystyi katsomaan melkein kaikkea, mitä Suomen joh- tavat kolme TV-kanavaa lähettivät. Käyttäjä pystyi myös hakemaan arkistosta katsottavaksi kaikki ohjelmat, jotka oli lähetetty viime viikon aikana (TV- Anytime piirre). Normaalit perheet, vapaalla olevat, työntekijät ja opiskelijat osallistuivat kenttäkokeeseen. Jokainen käyttäjä kokeili palvelua WLAN-hot spotien alueilla kuukauden ajan. Käyttäjät olivat yksiselitteisesti sitä mieltä, että palvelu oli televisiota, ei langatonta multimediaa. Tämä tukee näkemystä, että uusien palvelujen olisi perustuttava