V. F. de Lucena Jr. et al.: Designing an Extension API for Bridging Ginga iDTV Applications and Home Services 1077 Contributed Paper Manuscript received 06/27/12 Current version published 09/25/12 Electronic version published 09/25/12. 0098 3063/12/$20.00 © 2012 IEEE Designing an Extension API for Bridging Ginga iDTV Applications and Home Services Vicente Ferreira de Lucena Jr., Member, IEEE, Nairon Saraiva Viana, Orlewilson Bentes Maia, João Edgar Chaves Filho and Waldir Sabino da Silva Jr. Abstract — This paper presents the implementation process for an API that integrates interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications and home network (HN) services, mainly concerning issues of the Brazilian iDTV model. The research in this field is important because it represents current trends on the use of iDTV opening many business opportunities. With the convergence of service providers, modern communication technologies and consumer electronics devices at home, new iDTV applications have emerged, particularly those that use the set-top-boxes (or digital TV sets) processing power to provide additional services, which extends the possibilities of interaction between the user and the connected home. To implement this platform, a known model, which considers aspects of the Ginga middleware and the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) framework, was used. The idea behind the API model is to export service objects from one side to another, allowing the development of two types of applications: the first one on the Ginga-J machine and the last one on the Ginga-NCL machine. The main goals of this paper are (i) presenting the use of free tolls to perform such integration and (ii) showing the most relevant aspects in the core of the two models. Finally, a basic step-by-step process is shown in order to build integrated iDTV- HN real applications using this platform. 1 . Index Terms — interactive Digital TV, Home Gateway, Ginga Middleware, OSGi. I. INTRODUCTION Since the digital TV started providing interactive services, the amount of applications and possible uses for this device have been evolving, following an ever-growing technological convergence and the need for offering innovative services to the home users. This trend has been established throughout recent years, mainly supported by the increasing evolution of high speed and broadband networks as well as the more powerful generation of consumer electronics devices. The role 1 This work was supported by the following funding institutions: CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) and FAPEAM (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas). Vicente Ferreira de Lucena Junior, João Edgar Chaves Filho and Waldir Sabino da Silva Junior are with the Electrical Engineering Graduate Program at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (PPGEE-UFAM), and CETELI, Manaus, Brazil (e-mail: {vicente, jo_edgar, waldirjr}@ufam.edu.br). Nairon Saraiva Viana and Orlewilson Bentes Maia are Ph.D. students with Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (PPGEE-UFMG) and also with CETELI-UFAM (email: {nairon_viana, orlewilson_maia}@ufam.edu.br). of a consumer electronic device is highly expanded when it has some connectivity, either with the outside (through the Internet) or the inside of the user’s home (through the Home Networ - HN) [1]. The Interactive Digital TV (iDTV) evolution, regarding the technological convergence process, started with tests of applications that merged services from various providers in a single interface; after that, the connectivity TV/Internet led to the internet protocol television (IPTV); and finally, the integration with mobile devices improved the potential of the iDTV services [2]. Currently, this trend can be extended considering the strong potential of the digital TV receivers (Set-Top-Boxes, STBs) to provide an automated environment for sharing multimedia content [3], or to perform control and monitoring activities using such devices [4]. This idea of extending the connectivity of iDTV through home has been discussed in several papers lately, which considered some issues for making it possible to converge iDTV and a computing device fit for the purpose of centralizing all the services offered to other devices at home. This key device is commonly named home gateway (HG). The iDTV, whenever used as an HG, brings to the market new services and new business models. It makes possible to use services from several devices or service providers in such a way that the interaction with a device, or a service, becomes a part of the interactive process of the watching TV experience (see Fig. 1). The iDTV-HG integration is implemented by means of some collaboration mechanism, using the standard technologies available for each domain. Fig. 1. Delivering diverse content to home devices through a single iDTV- HG platform (Adapted from Dixit and Prassad [5]).