On controlling digital TV set-top-box by mobile devices via IP network

Digital TV already rises. Unlike the traditional TV system, the digital TV architecture allows users to execute application programs in their set-top-boxes. One of the benefits is that users can communicate interactively with others by executing certain applications via some channels, e.g., the Internet. However, the only control device in recent years is the remote controller, which is limited to the transmission range. In this paper, we devise a system that allows mobile appliances, e.g., mobile phones and laptops, to control our set-top-boxes. Due to the issue of compatibilities, we adopt MHP (multimedia home platform) as the middleware. The proposed system model is also compatible with the EPG (electronic program guide) architecture. Two services are provided: (1) viewing DTV contents online; (2) remotely commanding the set-top-box to record a DTV service. Assuming that in the future when every house will be equipped with a "personal multimedia server", this server will even process complex tasks such as transcoding and broadcasting. We believe that our system model is very feasible for future DTV systems and is applicable to advanced DTV applications.