Conditional access system interoperability through software downloading

Author

Kamperman, Frank ; Van Rijnsoever, Bart

Author_Institution

Philips Res. Lab., Eindhoven, Netherlands

Volume

47

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

2/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

47

Lastpage

54

Abstract

Interoperability between conditional access (CA) systems and set-top boxes (STB)-CA-STB interoperability-has been an issue from the very beginning of receiver development for digital pay-TV. Interoperability ensures that any service can be received on any (interoperable) STB. The common interface solutions SimulCrypt and MultiCrypt are now standardized. However, these solutions have a number of disadvantages, including the need for service providers to agree on using each other´s system, increased bandwidth usage, inflexibility, cost, and limited functionality. This paper describes another solution for CA-STB interoperability, based on downloading interoperable software into the STB. It provides full CA-STB interoperability. Furthermore, it can be introduced relatively easily into future STBs and will require only minimal changes in current CA systems

Keywords

digital television; open systems; software engineering; standardisation; telecommunication computing; television receivers; CA-STB interoperability; MultiCrypt; SimulCrypt; TV receiver; bandwidth usage; conditional access system interoperability; cost; digital pay-TV; interoperable software; service providers; software downloading; standardised common interfaces; Bandwidth; Cost function; Digital video broadcasting; Impedance; Laboratories; Open systems; Protection; Security; Software systems; US Department of Transportation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Consumer Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-3063

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/30.920419

Filename

920419