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Methodologies and tools for the cost-effective development of high-quality Web applications for Internet-enabled TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV

Final Report Summary - W3TV (Methodologies and tools for the cost-effective development of high-quality Web applications for Internet-enabled TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV)

Executive Summary:
The W3TV project provided a set of software engineering methodologies and tools that enable European software SMEs to easily enter the market of applications development for Internet-enabled TV Consumers Electronics and IPTV, and easily migrate their applications across different platforms (TV-CE products, product customisations, and IPTV services platforms).
Within W3TV, the W3TV methodological framework has been defined and implemented including the W3TV reference platform specification and a set of tools for the platform migration, application transformation and testing and simulation for different target platforms. The W3TV Platform Migration Toolset allows the generation of a platform’s Platform Description Model, enabling applications to be converted to that platform, while the W3TV Application Transformation Tool transforms a web application to conform to a target platform that is defined by a Platform Description Model. The W3TV Testing & Simulation Environment allows the user to validate and simulate his application against the target platform.
Additionally, a set of the applications were developed using the W3TV methodology and toolset within the W3TV project in order to facilitate the testing of W3TV framework and its components. These applications include a news application, a video application, a content sharing application and a trip application for the Android, LG, Samsung and HomeB platforms.
Following the overall assessment of the W3TV results, the W3TV concept was proved to be applicable and beneficial in scenarios where a TV application should support multiple platforms in the TV applications domain, while the application implementation on top of the W3TV Reference Platform, the application transformation and Testing & Simulation Environment usage is an easy and straightforward procedure to be applied. Additional APIs offering more advanced functionality (such as billing and authentication) are required for specific application types.
All in all, it has been identified that the W3TV methodology and toolset benefits the application developers by reducing the required implementation and maintenance effort for supporting multiple platforms in their application, in addition to supporting new platforms.
Project Context and Objectives:
The W3TV project provided a set of software engineering methodologies and tools that enable European software SMEs to easily enter the market of applications development for Internet-enabled TV Consumers Electronics and IPTV, and easily migrate their applications across different platforms (TV-CE products, product customisations, and IPTV services platforms).
The W3TV methodological framework removes the need for SMEs to cope with a variety of platforms. Instead, they only need to possess know-how on the development of applications on top of a reference platform that the project has defined on the basis of existing standards. In addition, the project defined the appropriate business model, centred on the role of SME Associations, for the exploitation of the W3TV results with the focus set on the commercialization of Platform Migration Services targeting software development SMEs.

The project started on 01/11/2011, and ended on 30/04/2014. The partners involved in this project are SEPVE, ETEK, BASSCOM, ISS, ATESE, SAFEVIEW, TELETEL, THOMSON VIDEO NETWORKS and SINGULARLOGIC.

The main project objectives of the whole project are:
• To perform a state of the art analysis in the field and define the user and technical requirements towards the cost-effective migration of applications across heterogeneousTV Consumer Electronics and IPTV platforms.
• To develop the W3TV Platform Migration methodologies and tools.
• To develop the W3TV Application Engineering methodologies and tools.
• To assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the W3TV methodologies and tools through the realisation of a set of pilots (applications) to be administered by the participating SME Associations.
• To widely disseminate the knowledge to be generated by the project and promote the adoption of the W3TV approach and tools at the European Level.
• To exploit the W3TV results for the benefit of the participating SME Associations and their SME members.

The main result of W3TV project is the W3TV framework, which provides the means for adapting application implementations, which conform to a standard reference platform, to different given platforms. The W3TV framework provides the methodologies and tools including: the W3TV Platform Migration Toolset used for the platform migration activities for the creation of transformation rules and conformance-validation test harnesses delivered to the Application Engineering activities and the W3TV Application Transformation Tool used for applications adaptation to different TV-CE/IPTV target platforms during the course of the Application Engineering activities.

Moreover, the W3TV project also delivered the testing and simulation environment for validating the conformance of applications to given target TV-CE/IPTV platforms during the course of the Application Engineering activities.
Finally, a set of applications are developed for validation of the W3TVmethodology and toolset including:
• Video application, which features a central video server that authenticates the users and serve the content, and multiple client applications for the most popular smart TV platforms, which playbacks the content.
• News application, which enables users to view news content from various sources using RSS technology.
• Trip application, which helps users to create trips using various transportation means and view them on a map.
• Content Sharing application, which enables the user to become an active contributor to the content generation chain by distributing and sharing content from different sources (webcam, mobile phones, documents created with a computer, etc.).

The solution that the W3TV project offers is expected to positively impact Web development SMEs by facilitating their entrance in the market of third-party applications development for TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV service ecosystems. In addition, the project benefits include but are not limited to:
• Reduce the required investment in software engineering tools together with the associated risks that could confine future product development decisions.
• Reduce the dependence to the TV-CE manufacturers and IPTV platform providers.
• Create new sales channels and create new revenues by blending their applications with IPTV services.
• Remove the need for personnel training and specialisation in IPTV service architectures and different Service Deliver Platform (SDP) products used by IPTV service providers.
• Generate new revenues for SME Associations through the commercialisation of Platform Migration Services.
The W3TV high level architecture is depicted in the following figure:

Figure 1: W3TV Toolset architecture
The W3TV Toolset is composed of the following components:
• Platform migration, which is used for allowing the support of additional TV based platforms.
• Application engineering, which is used for the transformation of a web application, developed using specific guidelines, to run in another platform supported platform.
• Testing and simulation, which is used for the validation of a web application and its simulation against the reference platform.
The applications are written on top of a reference platform and are transformed by the W3TV toolset to be compatible with the target platform. After transformation, the applications can be tested for conformance to the target platform, including validation against the target platform’s standards and simulation of the application, to ensure the maximum compatibility possible.
Also, the addition of support for new platforms is possible using the specific tools and methodology described in this document, making possible the eventual transformation of an application to any platform, TV based or not, that meets a specific set of technical requirements.

Project Results:
3.1 W3TV METHODOLOGY

3.1.1 W3TV REFERENCE PLATFORM SPECIFICATION

Following the W3TV concept, the TV applications developers will develop their web applications on top of the reference platform. The W3TV tools will then convert the applications that target the reference platform to applications that target the target TV platform, using the reference platform as a guideline on the application implementation.
If the applications target a known platform, then the W3TV tools can convert the application to target a different platform by applying the differences between the reference and target platform and/or modifying the reference platform’s methods into calling the equivalent of the target platform’s methods based on the Platform Description Model.
Following the above concept, the application developers will only have to target their applications to the reference platform and the W3TV tools will convert them to the target platform.
The reference platform is composed of two components, the Reference DTD and the Reference API. The reference DTD (Document Type Definition) describes the HTML markup that the application can feature, while the reference API provides the same native functionality for each supported platform under a common API.
3.1.1.1 REFERENCE DTD
The Reference DTD defines the contents of the HTML part of the web applications, allowing them to be easily validated for conformance against the Reference Platform. Specifically, the Reference DTD declares precisely which HTML elements and references may appear in the HTML document and what each element’s contents and attributes can be.
The Reference DTD is derived from XHTML version 1.0 strict and contains declarations for additional, non-standard XHTML elements such as the HTML5 video element. XHTML 1.0 strict was chosen as the basis for the Reference DTD for the following reasons:
• It is part of CE-HTML which is implemented in almost all smart TV platforms.
• All major web browsers support it.
• It is itself based on HTML 4.01 which itself is standardized.
• It is not DTD-less like HTML5.
The additional elements that exist in the Reference DTD are based in the HTML5 specification and include:
• Video element, which is used for video playback
• Audio element, which is used for audio playback
• Source element, which is used to allow multiple sources of the same media

3.1.1.2 REFERENCE API
Different platforms expose the same functionality through different JavaScript API implementations. Therefore, a common API between those different API implementations is needed to allow the application developers to write their applications once and convert them, through the W3TV tools, to any supported platform. The reference API fulfils that need for a common API across platforms. The application developers will write their applications against the reference API which in turn will wrap the target platform’s API, during the application transformation activities.
From the developer’s point of view, the reference API is a series of JavaScript methods which expose the same functionality for all the supported platforms. By using explicitly the reference API for accessing native functionality, the developer ensures that his application is be able to be transformed to function in each of the supported platforms.
The reference API is described by an XML document containing information about each method and variable that it provides.

3.1.2 W3TV PLATFORM MIGRATION METHODOLOGY

In the W3TV context, Platform Migration refers to the addition of support for a new platform to the W3TV toolset in order to allow applications to be transformed to run on this platform.
The W3TV toolset features its own platform, called Reference Platform, which the web applications are written on top. Then, through the toolset, the applications are converted and validated against the selected target smart TV platforms. This process includes the conversion of the Reference Platform API calls into API calls for the target platform and the conversion of the HTML of the application in order for it to conform to the target platform.
The HTML mapping of the Reference Platform to the target platform is performed semi-automatic, while the API mapping is performed manually by the Platform Migration Engineer.
To add support for a new platform, the Platform Migration Engineer creates an application for the target platform, which uses all the features of its API and supported HTML tags. In the W3TV context, this application is called Reference Application and has specific implementation guidelines which are described in the following sections. The Migration Engineer then uses the Platform Migration Tool to map the API and HTML of the Reference Platform to the target platform and generate the Platform Description Model of the target platform, using the Reference Application.
The following figure depicts the W3TV workflow for Platform Migration.

Figure 2: Platform Migration Workflow
The Platform Migration includes the following steps which are performed by the Platform Migration Engineer:
Step 1: Target platform selection and specification of target platform’s APIs in order for the Platform Migration Engineer to implement the Reference Application.
Step 2: Implementation of the Reference Application, which will be used by the Platform Migration Tool to generate the target platform PDM.
Step 3: Execution of the Reference Application to the target platform to ensure that it doesn’t have any errors.
Step 4: Usage of the Platform Migration Tool for the mapping of the Reference Platform’s DTD to the target platform’s DTD and the Reference Platform’s API to the target platform’s API.
Step 5: Generation of the Platform Description Model of the target platform.


3.1.3 APPLICATION ENGINEERING METHODOLOGY

The W3TV Transformation Process adapts the web application’s HTML code to conform to the target platform and generates a code implementation of the Reference API that wraps the target platform’s APIs. Thus, the application engineer must follow a set of development guidelines that will allow the W3TV Application Transformation Tool to apply the transformation methodology as smoothly as possible.


Figure 3: W3TV Application Engineering Overview
The application engineer implements his application using a set of development guidelines and then, he can use the W3TV Application Transformation Tool to transform his application to run across the full range of W3TV supported target platforms.


3.1.4 APPLICATION TESTING AND VALIDATION METHODOLOGY
The W3TV applications use a non-W3C Document Type Definition which, although based on the XHTML DTD, contains additional, non-standard elements. Therefore, existing XHTML validators will produce conformance errors on the Reference DTD’s non-standard elements. To validate a W3TV application, the application engineer will have to use an XHTML validator which allows the validation against a non-standard DTD and validate his application directly against the Reference DTD.
The W3TV applications include JavaScript code which uses the W3TV Reference API for which an API wrapper is generated during the transformation process. Thus, during the development phase of a W3TV application, there is no real implementation of the Reference APIs. In that context, an application engineer will have to create an API mock-up of the W3TV Reference API, in order to unit test the JavaScript code of his application.
To work around the above challenges, the application engineer should perform the testing and validation of his W3TV application using the W3TV Testing & Simulation Environment which includes:
• An XHTML validator which validates XHTML code against the W3TV Reference DTD.
• A Platform Simulation Environment which simulates a platform which exposes its functionality through the Reference API, allowing the application engineer to test his application. Also, the Platform Simulation Environment analyses the application and identifies which JavaScript calls that were performed are not supported by the Reference API and therefore have a high chance of failing to run on the target platform.

3.2 W3TV TOOLSET

3.2.1 PLATFORM MIGRATION TOOLSET
3.2.1.1 OVERVIEW
The W3TV Platform Migration Toolset allows the generation of a platform’s Platform Description Model, enabling applications to be converted to that platform. For the generation of a PDM, the Platform Migration Engineer uses the W3TV Platform Migration Toolset to specify the mapping of the W3TV Reference Platform to the target platform that the PDM is for.
The W3TV Platform Migration Tool implements the W3TV Migration Methodology as specified in the deliverable D3.1 – W3TV Methodological Framework for Platform Migration. Specifically, the W3TV Platform Migration Tool uses as input a Reference Application, which is a special type of application which uses the APIs and HTML elements of the target platform, to generate, with input from the Platform Migration Engineer, the DTD and API mappings of the Reference to the target platform. Then, it combines the DTD and API mappings to create the Platform Description Model of the target platform.
3.2.1.2 ARCHITECTURE
The W3TV Platform Migration Tool is composed of the following components:
• Reference Application Selection Screen, which allows the user to select the Reference Application that will be used to generate the Platform Description Model.
• Migration Status Screen, which displays status information about the migration process.
• Chrome SDK, which is used to run the Reference Application and log the JavaScript calls that it makes.
• Chrome Interface, which is used to communicate with the Chrome SDK in order to load the Reference Application to it and retrieve the list of JavaScript calls.
• API Mapping Module, which feeds the JavaScript calls to the API Mapping Screen and receives the Reference to target platform API mapping.
• DTD Generator, which generates the Document Type Definition of the Reference Application.
• DTD Comparator, which compares the generated Reference Application DTD with the Reference DTD and determines the elements that need mapping.
• DTD Mapping module, which feeds the DTD differences to the DTD Mapping Screen for resolving and receives the DTD mapping.
• PDM Generator, which combines the API and DTD mappings to generate the Platform Description Model for the target platform.


Figure 4: W3TV Platform Migration Tool architecture
3.2.1.3 USER INTERFACE
The user interface of the Platform Migration Tool is realized via the following screens:

Figure 5: Reference Application Selection Screen
The Reference Application Selection Screen allows the Platform Migration Engineer to select the Reference Application of the target platform that he will generate the Platform Description Model for and the path that the generated PDM will be saved.

Figure 6: Status Screen
The Status Screen displays the current migration status and features a progress bar and a list of each performed action, allowing the Platform Migration Engineer to view the state and the progress of the Platform Migration process.


Figure 7: DTD Mapping Screen
The DTD Mapping screen allows the user to map the target DTD to the Reference DTD. The screen displays a list of HTML elements that couldn’t be mapped automatically to the target and Reference DTDs. Using this screen, the platform migration engineer can type an equivalent to the DTD element that couldn’t be mapped.
For example, if the target platform doesn’t feature a “video” element for video playback but instead has its own proprietary video object, the platform migration engineer can type the equivalent code that will replace the Reference Platform’s “video” element during the transformation process.


Figure 8: API Mapping Screen
The API Mapping screen allows the platform migration engineer to map the Reference API to the target platform’s API. The screen displays a list of the JavaScript methods that were called by the Reference Application and a list of the Reference API methods. When the user selects a method from the call list and a method from the Reference API methods list, a placeholder wrapper code is displayed in the Target API Equivalent text area, as shown in the picture above. The wrapper code considers that the methods feature the same attributes and only have different method names, so the platform migration engineer will have to update the generate code.

3.2.2 APPLICATION TRANSFORMATION TOOL
3.2.2.1 OVERVIEW
The W3TV Application Transformation Tool transforms a web application to conform to a target platform that is defined by a Platform Description Model. The tool uses the target platform’s Platform Description Model to convert the application’s HTML code to conform to the target platform’s DTD and to generate an API wrapper for the target platform.

3.2.2.2 ARCHITECTURE
The W3TV Application Transformation Tool is composed of the following components:
• Application & PDM Selection Screen, which allows the user to select the Platform Description Model and the application that will be transformed.
• Status Screen, which displays the transformation status.
• PDM Parser, which parses the PDM file.
• XHTML Parser, which parses the HTML files of the application and creates its DOM representation.
• API Wrapper Generator, which generates the API wrapper for the target platform’s APIs.
• Reference To Target DTD Translator, which transforms the HTML of the application to conform to the target platform’s DTD.
• Transformed Application Generator, which combines the transformed HTML and the generated API wrapper to create the final transformed application.
• Transformation Report Screen, which provides the results of the transformation process and allows the user to export a log file containing them.



Figure 9: W3TV Application Transformation Tool architecture

3.2.3 TESTING & SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT
3.2.3.1 OVERVIEW
The Testing & Simulation Environment allows the user to validate and simulate his application against the target platform. The environment’s concept architecture is depicted in the following figure.

Figure 10: Testing & Simulation Environment Architecture
The Testing and Simulation Environment is composed by an HTML Validator and a Platform Simulation Environment. The HTML Validator validates the HTML code of the application against the platform’s DTD. The Platform Simulation Environment runs the application in a browser-like environment, logs each JavaScript call that is performed, and reports those that are not supported by the reference API and therefore have a high chance of failing to run in the target platform. Also, the Testing and Simulation Environment provides a user interface for the selection of the Application Under Test and the Target Platform DTD and PDM and a user interface for the depiction of the testing and simulation status.

3.2.3.2 USER INTERFACE
The user interface of the Testing & Simulation Environment is realized via the following screens:

Figure 11: W3TV Testing & Simulation Environment - Select Target Application Screen
The Target Application Selection Screen allows the user to select the Target Application, the Target DTD file and the Targed PDM file and initiate the testing and simulation.

Figure 12: W3TV Testing & Simulation Environment - Status Screen
The Status Screen, which contains a progress bar element which depicts the progress of the testing and simulation process, along with a text area element which displays information regarding the current status and any errors that show up.

3.3 W3TV APPLICATIONS

Within the context of W3TV project activities, a set of TV-based applications are developed which are used for validation of the W3TV toolset and the W3TV user trials. The applications that are developed include a video on demand application, which provides on demand access to video content, a news application, which allows the user to view news content from various sources using RSS technology, a trip application, which allows the user to create trips using various transportation means and view them on a map and a content sharing application, which is giving the possibility to the user to become an active contributor to the content generation chain: the user is able to distribute and share content. The applications that are developed were selected based on the interests of the participating in the project SMEs.

3.3.1 VIDEO APPLICATION
The Video Application is part of a solution which features a central video server, which authenticates the users and serves the content, and client applications which playback the content.

Figure 13: Video Application screen
The Video Application is composed of two components, the video server and the client application.
The video server runs common web server software (i.e. Apache web server) and uses a custom built web application to authenticate the users, store their preferences and serve them the content that the service operator has authorized them to view. Also, the video server features an extensive backend administration interface, in the form of a web application, which allows the service operator to manage the catalogue of video content and the users of the service, and to view various statistics about its current and past usage (such as current users, usage statistics, etc.).
The client application is a web application targeting the W3TV Reference Platform, and allows users to select and watch video content on demand, right from their Internet enabled TV sets. The application offers two basic functions, listing and playback. It presents to the user a list of multimedia content that he can access and allows him to select a video to watch.
The application is composed of various user interface screens, providing listing of content, playback and configuration. Specifically, it provides the following user interface screens:
• Video Library screen, which presents a list of multimedia content available to the user.
• Play Video screen, which initiates the video playback.
• Settings screen, which allows the user to configure the application.

3.3.2 NEWS APPLICATION
The News Application allows the user to view news content from various sources using RSS technology. The application is developed on top of the W3TV Reference Platform.

Figure 14: News Application News screen
The application is composed of a server component, which is used by the administrator to configure the RSS sources, and a client component which displays the news content.
The Application Server allows the Administrator to configure and separate the RSS news sources into news categories. Also, the Application Server retrieves the RSS data from the content sources and forwards them to the client application. The Application Server is built on web technologies and runs on top of an Apache web server, with a MySQL database for data storage.
The client application retrieves the news categories from the server and displays them to the user. When the user selects to view a category, the application requests the content from the server using AJAX, and displays it to the user.
The application’s functionality is exposed to the user via the following user interface screens:
• News Headlines Screen, which displays a list of the configured news categories and allows the user to view the news content.
• News Categories Screen, which displays a full list of the news categories and allows the user to select which will be displayed in the News Headlines Screen.
• Settings Screen, which allows the user to input his credentials to login to the application.


3.3.3 TRIP APPLICATION
The Trip Application allows the user to create trips using various transportation means and view them on a map. The application is developed on top of the W3TV Reference Platform.
The application uses the Google Maps Web API to calculate the user’s trips and display the map.
The Trip Application’s functionality is exposed to the user via the Trip Screen, which is depicted in the following figure.

Figure 15: Trip Application Trip Screen
The Trip Screen allows the user to select his preferred transportation means, type his origin and destination can view the calculated trip on a map along with instructions, total distance and calculated required time. The available transportation means are driving, public transportation, cycling and walking.

3.3.4 CONTENT SHARING APPLICATION
VoD services are experiencing an intensive and continuous popularity growth. Users’ willingness to consume VoD services is particularly accentuated by the advent of Content Sharing Applications (CSAs). CSAs have brought an unlimited choice of videos to the Service Providers/Content Providers (SPs/CPs) libraries by enabling users to be not only consumers but also producers. In addition, as the broadband connectivity becomes more and more pervasive, consumers’ expectations for better quality in a disparate context increase. However, such a computing context places high requirements on the Future Media Internet delivery. It is obvious today that Internet should evolve towards providing end users with ubiquitous and high quality video services and this, in a scalable, reliable and efficient way.
The Content Sharing Application (CSA) is giving the possibility to the user to become an active contributor to the content generation chain: the user is able to distribute and share content.
In the CSA architecture (Figure 16), users are provided with a central home server (HomeB Server) that gets in charge of different roles like synchronizing content between different devices, storing content or managing content delivery to/from the Internet.
The Server is communicating with client devices using a standard protocol (i.e. Web Services and HLS in our case). Those devices can be a normal PC, a laptop, a web-browser, a tablet, smartphone or (our case of interest), a W3TV client application.

Figure 16 : CSA High Level Architecture
The W3TV client application is interacting with the CSA infrastructure communicating with the HomeB Server that acts as the broker for access to content synchronization. The application is able to browse the stored content, share, edit or remove it.
For operation, the W3TV application is contacting the HomeB Server to fetch and process content. Then the Server is getting in charge of processing and delivering content, while the W3TV application is assuming the user-friendly interface able to consume the content.
The application is allowing the user to configure all the parameters needed for a normal usage (establishing a new Server connection, adding friends or setting up new sharing mechanisms, for example adding a new mail service provider for content delivery).

Potential Impact:
4.1 IMPACT

4.1.1 IPTV MARKET TRENDS

Telco providers are under increasing pressure to raise revenue by delivering a bundle of high speed data, voice (increasingly VoIP), and IPTV services, providing the broadband market with future growth drivers beyond Internet connectivity. Next generation TV and video services, including video on demand, broadcast standard and high definition television, are now staples in the market and are enabling operators to deliver new revenue-generating services, such as networked PVR, online gaming, audio on-demand, e-commerce, and communications services, including video telephony. By offering video services, telcos hope to stem the loss of fixed access lines, increase ARPU among their voice and broadband data customers, and steal customers away from competitive cable and DBS providers .
With broadband subscriptions having reached a turning point in 2013 and annual growth moving to the lower single digits, telcos arguably have no choice but to become triple-play providers. In Europe, for example, 77% of households are online and have access to internet services . Voice revenue is diminishing as competition from wireless operators, competitive telcos and ISPs, and cable operators intensifies. Best-effort data services have quickly become commoditized and today generate only revenue, not profits. While partnerships with satellite TV operators give telcos a path of entry into TV services, they do not offer any way to leverage existing infrastructure, nor enter the more lucrative interactive video services markets. Because of this, broadband service providers have every incentive to offer IPTV services and are already doing so with varying degrees of success.

Table 1: Recent IPTV Market Leaders

Currently, IPTV business models range from pure IPTV providers, to newly emerging hybrid models. The hybrid model consists of service providers pulling some or all linear programming off a terrestrial over-the-air network, while premium content, VoD and perhaps some traditional cable channels are delivered over land line. Such models tend to work well in markets such as Italy, where there is significant and popular content available over the air. Table 1 illustrates the recent IPTV market leaders, as identified by “MRG”.
In absolute terms, European IPTV customer numbers will continue to grow because of the continued roll-out of next-generation access fixed broadband services while the number of households taking IPTV primary services will continue to increase (29.0% growth during the period). On the other hand, cable customers will decline (–6.2% during the period), because the increase in digital cable households is inadequate to offset the extinction of analogue cable (some of which will opt for digital platforms other than cable, e.g. OTT video services) (Figure 17).

Figure 17: Pay-TV households, primary services by platform, Western Europe, 2013–2018 [Source: Analysys Mason, August 2013]

To be successful, operators can't rely on existing strategies whereby they replicate their competitors’ offerings. They must offer the basics of broadcast and VOD, but they must also expand their service portfolios to include enhanced EPGs , remote scheduling and recording, social networking, and video telephony, to name just a few. Anything a telco can do to differentiate its video service not only from those of rival cable and DBS providers, but also from a growing list of over-the-top ICPs (such as Apple, Google, Hulu, and Netflix), will help reduce subscriber churn and increase revenue.
Video-on-demand (VOD) is critical to IPTV success, almost must have feature for any video provider today. Although revenue associated with VOD is still small, as most VOD streams are associated with free programming, getting subscribers accustomed to using VOD.
The biggest challenge in expanding content libraries is content acquisition. IPTV providers must determine which features and services are appropriate for their customer base. With VOD content being so expensive, operators have to pick and choose which titles are going to give them the most return on their investment. The same goes for interactive applications.
Regarding social networking services it is incumbent upon operators to validate what will work and strike a balance between subscriber demand and SLAs with content owners.
Value Added Services is an important driver for a new area of business, as xDSL technology can serve as stable basis for transmitting e.g. vital parameters. Telcos also supports other players in the Value Added Services value chain with strong expertise on billing and charging. User oriented Value Added Services help to strengthen customer loyalty by supporting directly the needs of patients and helping users to keep and probably expand their vitality and life quality. Value Added Services over IPTV and multi-play services infrastructures help to establish a new position of operators towards customer and support their needs more efficient
IPTV’s greatest success will come in markets with ready access to wireline broadband, a developed pay-TV culture and enough relevant content to differentiate operators. The level of competition also will have a significant impact on the ability of operators to attract new subscribers and broaden the total addressable market.
IPTV is showing strong growth and can compete against Cable TV, despite some industry setbacks, regulation and content issues.

4.1.2 TV-BASED PLATFORMS MARKET FORECAST AND TRENDS

4.1.2.1 CONNECTED TV PLATFORMS
Connected TV (also known as internet enabled TV or IE-TV) is the concept of having TV’s connected to the internet with a built-in browser to visit pages hosted on web servers with the TV. This is done via a built-in browser that improves navigation of web pages on TV using a remote control. Most services are not developed in HTML, but in modified subsets of HTML to ensure that navigation is optimal. A short comparison matrix among the different TV platforms technologies is presented in Table 2.

Smart TV Platforms

Table 2: TV-based platforms comparison matrix

The integration with internet and television will become stronger with the manufacturers’ battle over Smart TV. Network standards such as DLNA, but also cloud-based services are used for sharing of content. Similarly, Social TV in which social media are connected to broadcast TV, either via HbbTV or via a connection made by independent web applications (not included in the broadcast signal) is on a rise.

4.1.2.2 CONNECTED TV SERVICES
Connected TV’s can enable social TV services while popular services that most connected TV platforms offer are Video on Demand, You Tube, and Catch up TV. The latter has in fact been reported to have seen the most significant growth in the last years. Many more services exist as these are usually developed by third parties, think of whether reports, traffic information, but also social media and photosharing services such as Facebook, Twitter and Gowalla.

Adding to the integration of internet and broadcast TV are social media services like Gowalla and Foursquare for TV. Gowalla and Foursquare allow one to share a location with others, similar connected TV services like Philo, Miso, GetGlue, and IntoNow allow to share what your are watching with other via the Internet. Some of these applications, for example Miso even allows sharing of content that has been viewed, which could also be used to involve elderly in family sharing circles.
4.1.2.3 VIDEOCONFERENCING ON TV
Due to the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft, developments in CE markets have been slow. However, they can be expected to pick up fast once business agreements allow this. Most TV manufactures got involved with Skype. Currently, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic have implemented Skype on their Internet enabled TVs. Other solutions are provided by set-top box manufacturers and PC manufacturers that offer thin client PC’s that are optimal for connection to a TV. An example is the Asus EEE box PC Eee Box which uses Splashbox to launch a selection of applications quickly. While thin client solutions can in principal be used quit easily with a TV and offer similar connectivity that set-top boxes provide; only the hardware is provided and software available is not developed for a TV screen and remote control. Google TV has taken another direction, partnering with Logitech to deliver the Logitech revue set-top box.
So far all videoconferencing solutions using Skype software or other solutions require a peripheral webcam that is compatible with the respective TV or set-top box platform. Embedded cameras can be expected for the future.
4.1.2.4 HYBRID BROADCAST BROADBAND
Merging of broadband services and broadcast TV has led to developments of hybrid TV. The idea of Hybrid TV is that data other than TV broadcast is being spread via the broadcast signal, offloading traffic from broadband to broadcast. This allows:
• direct connection between broadcast and broadband overlays (e.g. content tuned to what one is watching, but also subtitles in larger fonts that are more readable for elderly)
• synchronization of broadband and broadcast content (e.g. second screen interactivity)
• video on demand (VOD)
Deployments of Hybrid TV already take place in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands and Switzerland.
The offering of services via the broadcast signal has implications for existing connected TV services. These services are not necessarily only available via a separate TV platform, but can be made available directly on top of the TV channel. This requires a different design of services user interfaces as the services are provided in a dynamic context.
4.1.2.5 SECOND SCREEN INTERACTION
A current trend that can, as mentioned above, also be achieved with Hybrid Broadcast, is second screen interaction. This level can be achieved in other ways and emerging more and more. Examples of how second screen interaction is used with TV viewing are Disney second screen providing extra information on the second screen and apps that allow interaction with TV content such as participation in quiz shows.
Second screen interaction and controlling the TV with a remote control can prove useful for elderly with visual or motor deficiencies as this enables them with touchscreen control and nearby visuals.


4.1.3 SMARTPHONE PLATFORMS MARKET

The worldwide mobile phone market has significantly grown having shipped a total number of 1,004.2 million smartphones worldwide, up 38.4% from the 725.3 million units in 2012. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), smartphones accounted for 55.1% of all mobile phone shipments in 2013, up from the 41.7% of all mobile phone shipments in 2012. In the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), vendors shipped a total of 284.4 million smartphones worldwide, up 24.2% from the 229.0 million units shipped in 4Q12. In the worldwide mobile phone market (inclusive of smartphones), vendors shipped 1,821.8 million units, up 4.8% from the 1,738.1 million units shipped 2012. In 4Q13 alone, vendors shipped a total of 488.4 million units worldwide, up 0.9% from the 484.0 million units shipped in 4Q12.
Samsung is continuing to be the leader in worldwide smartphone shipments, even with sustained demand for its Galaxy S III, S4, and Note models, which resulted in a decline compared to the previous quarter. Nevertheless, the company maintained a sizable lead over the second in the row vendor, Apple.
Apple achieved a record shipment volume during 4Q13, driven primarily by the addition of multiple countries offering the iPhone 5S and 5C. Still, Apple had the lowest year-on-year increase (12,9%) of all the leading vendors.
Huawei maintained its third position worldwide and attained the highest year-on-year increase among the leading vendors, and raised its brand profile with a higher proportion of self-branded units.
Lenovo, despite the lack of presence in North America and Western Europe, finished the quarter in the number four position. The company's strength lies in its strong presence within key emerging markets and a well-segmented product portfolio spanning from simple, affordable smartphones to full-featured 5" screen models.
LG finished just behind Lenovo and edged out ZTE for the number five position, with just five million units separating the two companies. At the same time, its year-on-year improvement put the company on par with Huawei and Lenovo with market beating growth. LG's success can be directly attributed to its revived portfolio from a year ago, which featured more large-screen and high-end models, including the Nexus 5 and its Optimus G series.


Table 3: Top Five Worldwide Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q3 2013 (Source: IDC, January 2014)


Table 4: Top Five Worldwide Total Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q4 2013 (Units in Millions), [IDC, January 2014]

4.1.4 SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS FOR TV CONSUMER ELECTRONICS AND IPTV MARKET FORECAST AND TRENDS

TV apps - interactive, web-like applications that both enhance the TV viewing experience by supplementing programming content with additional material and activities and deliver Internet content and services - are moving quickly from a novelty feature on some Internet-enabled HDTVs and a few cable systems to what will soon be a standard capability. The growth in adoption of TV app platforms will result in revenues from apps on TVs going from just $10 million in 2010 to $1.9 billion by 2015 according to a new report from GigaOM Pro.
This fast growth in revenue will in large part result from the large number of households that will have networked TVs. By 2015, 6 in 10 TVs shipped worldwide will have a network connection (Ethernet, Wi-Fi or both) and 70 percent of those will come with an embedded app platform and app store. Embedded app stores will be the method for bringing apps to the TV, but other approaches are also being pursued, including full, video-optimized browsers, such as Boxee, Kylo and Oregan Network’s Onyx Media Browser.
Additionally, according to the “Global Advertising Trends” study published by Nielsen, global ad spend in the first half of 2013 totaled $76.6 billions, showing a 1.9 percent increase year-over-year. The TV advertising business today has an estimated market value of $70 billions, and analysts agree that a substantial part of that value is going to flow through IE-TV and social TV service providers.
Potential revenues for the members of SME-AGs in the W3TV project can come from different channels: application development on IE-TVs, smart phones/tablets, or both (synchronized apps); provision of services and infrastructures required to support the apps; development of user behaviour analysis systems to support advertising agencies; consultancy and on-demand software development for content providers (media companies, TV studios, etc.), broadcasters and telcos.
Application and service developers are the category in direct competition with the partners in W3TV and with the companies they represent. Most of the competitors are US-based, just to name the best known: Miso, Shazam, Dijit, GetGlue, Viggle, BuddyTv, Flingo, Accedo, Transgaming, GameTree TV, adRise, Peel, IntoNow, Yap, ZeeBox. The only European player in this list is Accedo; Shazam is UK-based but operating in US, and ZeeBox has part of its operations in UK. This is in contrast with the devices’ distribution, with Western Europe having a bigger market penetration for both IE-TVs and tablets. Given a larger device base, and the whole European broadcasters / content providers market currently targeted by US companies, a huge opportunity for growth is seen for European companies willing to enter the IE-TV apps and services market.
Looking at the nearly $100 millions invested in IE-TV developer start-ups in the US in the last couple of years, it is clear that European SMEs will need a strong support to compete effectively and to enter the market before it gets saturated by the competitors. Not surprisingly, the main digital advertisement agencies are also based in the US (Razorfish, ColliderMedia, Vidillion, Rovi). Agencies are currently doing research to understand how they can best exploit the opportunities made available by the IE-TV + social TV combination: target users are accurately profiled (potentially, even one by one) and can be sent focused ads accompanied by call-to-actions leading to further information requests or even immediate purchase. The need to analyse the users’ new behaviour could open up new opportunities and give rise to new businesses.


4.2 INNOVATION AND BENEFITS

The innovative aspects of the W3TV concept and approach can be summarised as follows:
• Allow the effective development of Web-applications for the TVCE/IPTV sector by removing the need for software SMEs to possess know-how on the utilisation of different proprietary APIs. In the framework of the application engineering activities, W3TV tools enable the adaptation of applications to different target platforms in an automated manner by using the transformation rules produced by the platform migration activities. Furthermore, the conformance of the application prototypes to the target APIs can be validated by exploiting the test harnesses, to be generated by the platform migration activities, on top of a customisable testing and simulation environment.
• Advance existing software-engineering methodologies for platform/API migration towards serving the purposes of the W3TV use cases.
• Introduce an approach for the validation of applications conformance to given target platforms that will be aligned with the API migration strategies and reusable across different products and platforms.
• Introduce the notion of third-party Platform Migration activities in a business environment centred on SME Associations, who can acting either as distributors or providers of platform migration services to their member SMEs.

Based on the above innovation points, the benefits for the SMEs include but are not limited to:
• Reduce the required investment in software engineering tools together with the associated risks that could confine future product development decisions.
• Reduce the dependence to the TV-CE manufacturers and IPTV platform providers.
• Reduce time to market and development costs in smartphone applications for IPTV platforms or migration of existing applications.
• Be competitive by migrating existing TV applications for multiple TV-based platforms.
• Create new sales channels and create new revenues by blending their applications with IPTV services.
• Remove the need for personnel training and specialisation in IPTV service architectures and different Service Deliver Platform (SDP) products used by IPTV service providers.
• Generate new revenues for SME Associations through the commercialisation of Platform Migration Services.
4.3 SWOT ANALYSIS
The following table provides the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the W3TV project.

Strengths Weaknesses
• Provision of platform and application migration tools supporting different target platforms/APIs.
• Easy adaptation of existing TV applications across popular heterogeneous TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV platforms.
• Provision of configurable testing and simulation environment for applications conformance validation of the W3TV derived applications to the given target platforms.
• Share user-generated content with the user community
• Enjoy multimedia experience with any compatible device (i.e. smartphone, tablet, PCs, TVs) with Internet access
• Minimize the effort of personnel training and specialisation in IPTV service architectures and different Service Deliver Platform (SDP) products used by IPTV service providers. • W3TV platform capabilities, installed at user/community’s premises.
• Limitation of W3TV API based on the Reference platform constrains.
• A Platform Migration tool is needed to support the different deployment platforms.
Opportunities Threats
• Reduce time to market and development costs.
• Better position in the continuous growing IPTV/TV-based application market.
• Generate new revenues for SME Associations through the commercialisation of services derived by W3TV project.
• Compatibilities between different and new platforms
• Create new sales channels and create new revenues by blending their applications with IPTV services. • New technology for TV applications.
• Compatibility of W3TV Reference Platform (and Reference DTD) with future IPTV service providers specifications.
• W3TV Reference model may be insufficient for new targeted platforms.
• No sufficient level of standardisation for the W3TV methodologies to enable adoption by TV-CE industry

4.4 DISSEMINATION
The dissemination activities performed during the project course, are listed below:
- Maintained the W3TV website, available at www.w3tv.eu and performed continuous updates.
- Prepared the W3TV brochure.
- Prepared W3TV project video and made available over the public Internet through the W3TV web site and YouTube (www.youtube.com) popular video sharing platform.
- Presented W3TV activities and results in scientific conferences and workshops including YU INFO 2013 Conference, 4th International Conference on Information Society and Technology (ICIST 2014).
- Disseminate the project results and benefits through corporate/organization newsletters, bilateral meetings with companies active in the area of software development for Web-based and –IE-TV applications.
- Organised the W3TV 1st workshop within the 2nd SEPVE Forum Meeting.
- Organised the W3TV 2nd workshop within the ICIST 2014.
- Establishment and maintenance of the W3TV Special Interest Group (SIG).

In the last project period, the work was focused on market oriented dissemination activities, which are considered part of the exploitation activities, including:
• Presentation of the project results and demonstration of the W3TV toolset to the SME-AG members, mainly by the SME-AGs (SEPVE, ISS, BASSCOM, ETEK).
• Meetings and presentation of the project results to SIG members (mainly by SMEs and RTD-Performers).
• Meetings and presentation of the project results to strategic partners, mainly by the RTD-Performers.
• Organisation of two (2) workshops in the context of the 2nd SEPVE Members Forum and during the 4th International Conference on Information Society and Technology (ICIST 2014).
4.5 EXPLOITATION

W3TV is targeting software SMEs that are seeking to improve their positioning in the market of Web applications development for Internet-enabled TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV service environments. The W3TV business case is centred on the role of SME Associations and the focus will be on the commercialisation of platform migration services to the above software SMEs. The SME Associations are well positioned to act either as the providers or the distributors of platform migration services to their members, as well as to external SMEs or larger industrial players.
In the former case (SME-AGs acting as service providers), SME Associations are expected to hire technical personnel that will be assigned the tasks of exercising the W3TV platform migration activities, maintaining/evolving the tools, and providing technical support services. In the case that SME-AGs will act as distributors, the aforementioned tasks will be outsourced to third-parties possessing the required skills and expertise.
Moreover, the SME end-users involved in the project are already active in this market of Internet-enabled TV Consumer Electronics and IPTV services and constantly struggling to improve services and products and growing their market shares.
Considering the above, the exploitation plan of the W3TV results on behalf of the W3TV SME-AGs, namely SEPVE, ETEK, BASSCOM, ISS, and SME end-users , namely ATESE and SAFEVIEW) includes:
• Each SME Association Group and SME end-user will exploit the features and configurations of the W3TV toolset that are delivered, according to SME s requirements for supported target platforms/API.
• Each SME Association Group and SME end-user will exploit the W3TV methodology and toolset for experimentation and development of new Internet-enabled TV applications.
• Each SME Association Group and SME end-user will further exploit the W3TV applications that are implemented in the context of the W3TV user trials.

Furthermore, the methodology and design guidelines for implementing and migration of Internet-enabled TV applications in popular TV platforms will be publicly available through the W3TV website and relevant publications. In addition, the open source availability of the W3TV Platform Migration and Application Transformation tools will allow the implementation by third-parties, e.g. individual developers, companies, organisations etc., interested in the W3TV technology for developing Internet-enabled TV application according to the W3TV methodology.


Table 5: Exploitable Internet-enabled TV applications based on W3TV approach
Finally, the project exploitable results can be summarised in the W3TV tools and applications that were implemented to validate the W3TV framework. These applications include a video application, a news application, a trip application and a content sharing application, listed in Table 5.


List of Websites:
http://www.w3tv.eu/