Master Thesis Personalized ESG for converged digital broadcast and 3G mobile services Student: Xu Zhang (s050881) Supervisors: Reza Tadayoni and Michael Petersen CICT·Technical University of Denmark January 2008 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang Technical University of Denmark Informatics and Mathematical Modeling Center for Information and Communication Technologies Building 372, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark 1 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang Abstract The current designs of conventional Electronic Service Guides (ESGs) are an increasingly inefficient way for users to discover and select something to watch from the large amounts of digital broadcast content for Mobile TV available on handsets. One of the options to improve the design involves personalizing media selection from the existing Electronic Service Guide. The opportunity to deliver personalization has been made easier by the rapid pace of convergence. The overall aim of the project is to explore how to realize personalized ESG based on shifting contexts in converged digital broadcast and 3G environments. This report covers a review of various aspects influencing ESG design, an analysis of the stakeholders involved in mobile TV, and the planning, implementation and analysis of a case study based on a broadcaster. On this basis, an ESG design is proposed and preliminary work has been done on a prototype. The report concludes with a brief discussion of ESGs for Mobile TV and suggestions for future work. 2 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang Preface This project is the last step of my master’s education in Telecommunications Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The thesis work was carried out at Center for Information and Communication Technologies the period from June 2007 to January 2008 with a workload of 35 ECTS points. Lyngby, January 2008 Xu Zhang (s050881) 3 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang Acknowledgements I would like to thank some of people for assisting me in completing this thesis. I would like to thank my supervisors Reza Tadayoni and Michael Petersen for their guidance and supervisions. During our status meeting, their suggestions and comments have inspired me in my work. They showed great support and trust during the hardest time of the project. I would like to thank Peter Looms for his constant encouragement and fruitful discussion throughout the thesis work. Your insightful knowledge of the broadcast industry has greatly complemented my deficiency in this area. I express my sincere appreciations to Peter Looms again and Peter Mølsted for clarifying many issues regarding practical terms and as interviewees for the case study. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shanshan Zhu, my best friend in Denmark for her interesting discussions and humor, which motivated me greatly when I was depressed. Finally I would like to thank my family for their endless love and support and my boyfriend for his support and understandings. 4 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang Table of Content ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................................2 PREFACE .........................................................................................................................................3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................................................4 TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................................................................5 LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................................9 LIST OF TABLES ..........................................................................................................................11 LIST OF ACRONYMS...................................................................................................................12 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................15 1.1 MOTIVATION ................................................................................................................15 1.2 PROBLEM DEFINITION .................................................................................................16 5 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang 1.3 METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................................17 1.4 THESIS STRUCTURE .....................................................................................................18 2 OVERVIEW OF MOBILE TV SERVICES ......................................................................20 2.1 AVAILABLE MOBILE TV TECHNOLOGIES .....................................................................21 2.1.1 Via Mobile networks .......................................................................................21 2.1.2 Via Dedicated broadcast networks ..................................................................22 2.1.3 Comparison .....................................................................................................25 2.2 TRENDS - CONVERGENCE ............................................................................................26 2.3 GENERAL ISSUES OF ELECTRONIC SERVICE GUIDE......................................................27 2.3.1 Migration from EPG to ESG...........................................................................27 2.3.2 Standards Comparison.....................................................................................27 2.3.3 Current ESG Functionalities and Limitations .................................................32 3 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS IN CONTENT DELIVERY VALUE CHAIN FOR MOBILE TV...................................................................................................................................33 4 UNDERSTANDING HOW PEOPLE CONSUME MOBILE TV ....................................39 4.1 DRIVERS OF USING MOBILE TV...................................................................................40 4.2 TARGET USER GROUP ...................................................................................................40 4.3 USAGE CONTEXTS........................................................................................................41 4.3.1 What is Context? .............................................................................................41 4.3.2 Mobile TV Usage Contexts.............................................................................42 4.4 MOBILE TV CONSUMPTION PATTERNS .........................................................................45 4.5 USER REQUIREMENTS IMPLICATIONS ..........................................................................46 5 CUSTOMIZING ESG BASED ON MOBILE CONTEXTS ............................................47 5.1 CONTENT DESCRIPTION USING METADATA..................................................................47 5.1.1 Reviewing Existing Metadata Standards.........................................................47 5.1.2 Discussion .......................................................................................................49 5.2 CONTEXT AWARENESS FOR ESG..................................................................................50 5.2.1 Context Gathering ...........................................................................................50 5.2.2 Context Interpretation .....................................................................................51 5.2.3 Adaptation Inference.......................................................................................52 5.3 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS IMPLICATIONS ................................................................52 6 Master Thesis s050881 Xu Zhang 6 A CASE STUDY OF DR - FROM BROADCASTER’S PERSPECTIVE .......................54 6.1 INTRODUCTION TO DR.................................................................................................54 6.2 METADATA DEPLOYMENT FOR CURRENT SERVICES ....................................................55 6.3 FORECASTING MOBILE TV SERVICES ..........................................................................56 6.4 PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS FROM BROADCASTER’S SIDE.............................................57 7 SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS...................................................59 8 DESIGN ............................................................................................................................61 8.1 SYSTEM OVERVIEW .....................................................................................................61 8.2 METADATA MANAGEMENT ..........................................................................................62 8.3 USER PROFILE MANAGEMENT.....................................................................................63 8.4 ESG DISCOVERY AND DELIVERY.................................................................................63 8.4.1 Personalized ESG Generation Flow................................................................63 8.4.2 Context Data Model........................................................................................65 8.4.3 Rule-based Reasoning.....................................................................................65 8.4.4 Content Filtering .............................................................................................66 8.5 UML MODELING .........................................................................................................67