User-Centric Companion Screen Architecture for Improving Accessibility of Broadcast Services

Abstract

Bridging broadcast and internet services can be difficult, because the system architectures are typically different. Though integrated broadcastbroadband systems that can provide companion screen (CS) services have been standardized, existing systems are television-centric; therefore, it can be difficult for users to easily access broadcast services through mobile applications. Therefore, we propose a CS architecture (CSA) that can be used to tune to specific TV channels and launch broadcast-related applications from a CS such as a smartphone, smart speaker, or smart watch. The general versatility and feasibility of the proposed CSA was verified through prototyping of multiple use cases. Moreover, based on user tests, we confirmed that our proposed CSA has a potential to improve broadcast accessibility from mobile applications and increase the number of times the users watch broadcast programs. Thus, our proposed CSA can help bridge broadcast and mobile or Internet-of-Things services.

Web-based Distributed Architecture for Local Device Collaboration on Integrated Broadcast-broadband Systems

“…The prototype used in the on-site test was evaluated more positively than that used in the online questionnaire. A prior related work [9] reported that use cases can be evaluated not only by imagining them but also by experiencing them.…”

“…Similar IBB systems are standardized by the HbbTV 2.0 standard [6] in Europe and ATSC 3.0 [7] in the USA. Additionally, a user-centric companion screen architecture [9] based on Hybridcast was proposed for launching broadcast-related TV applications from mobile or IoT devices to relay TV experiences.…”

“…However, in existing broadcasting services and system architectures [9] based on these IBB systems, the receiver architecture of TV is rarely compatible with the architecture of other devices and therefore some use cases cannot be achieved. Here, only one TV (a server) is assumed to receive the broadcast and the other smart devices (clients) connect to the TV.…”