Software implementation issues in digital integrated receiver decoders

The introduction of digital TV technology in broadcast systems such as satellite, cable and in the future terrestrial TV will require large investments to be made in the provision of digital receivers. The cost to the consumer could be reduced if a single receiver could be used to view transmissions from several sources and providers, rather than the current situation where each service provider specifies their own proprietary solution. This paper discusses the hardware and software requirements of an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) which can be used to display digital broadcasts from different delivery systems. It identifies the structure of the underlying software modules and shows how they would be used by an application. It also addresses the problems caused by multiple conditional access systems and the requirements of applications downloaded to the IRD. Finally conclusions are drawn as to the advantages of an open software architecture, in terms of the availability of third party components.