Eureka!'s staff has been involved in the digital TV industry since mid-1995
when we began assisting a client with the implementation and integration
of a digital TV settop box. Our first project was
to assist in the development of system diagnostics for a 68K based integrated
receiver/decoder (IRD). Shortly thereafter we were retained to evaluate
OpenTV as a possible software platform for this settop, and based upon our
recommendation, OpenTV was chosen. In the spring of 1996 we took
over project management of the software development while a senior member
of our staff temporarily served as our client's Director of Software.
Our involvement in this effort increased later in the project when a
senior member of our engineering staff took on the responsibility for software
development tool management (e.g. source code control system
and build environment).
Three additional engineers from our staff were involved with development
and integration of the settop box system software.
For the last seven months of the project, one of Eureka!'s most senior
engineers led the final debug and integration efforts as well as lab tests,
field tests and final acceptance in Europe.
At the end of the trial period, our client's settop box was the only
system to pass the rigorous acceptance tests mandated by the European based
digital TV service provider. The provider's reference settop box, developed
by another manufacturer, was among the systems that did not pass the acceptance
criteria.
Our development effort included working with these
technologies:
- Impulse Pay-Per-View (IPPV)
- MPEG PID filtering
- DBV-SI data processing
- Navigator and other OpenTV applications
- Back channel communication with the head end
- Coordination of CA and smart card systems
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- Drivers for various devices including·
- MPEG decoder
- QAM demodulator
- QPSK demodulator
- Modem
- OSD
- Infared receiver
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While we were implementing the software for the
settop box, we were also working with
other clients developing Java technology. We combined our experience
with both Java and Digital TV to push a concept we called JavaTV.
During the spring and summer of 1998, we worked closely with a client
helping to lobby standards bodies including DVB and ATSC. By the end of
the summer both DVB and ATSC decided to adopt Java as the application
engine for digital television content.
