State of the art in IPTV

IPTV is an essential new technology in ICT, which changes the perspective of the way end users consume TV services, but also serves as a platform for new ideas and concepts in other areas, such as medicine, science and industry. It is considered as a technology that brings significant contribution in different scientific areas, as well as medicine and industry, besides the development of information and communication technology itself. This paper gives an overview of recent state of the art research and technology development, appropriate architectures, design issues, upgrades and hot topic features. The analysis of recent relevant IPTV research papers and the comparison of the novelties they bring to the IPTV technology itself has led to the conclusion about the existence of three main approaches to state of the art IPTV research: IPTV Channel Control and Management, P2P IPTV systems and Technology Assisted Living. These approaches are further observed and discussed as an attempt to prove the importance of IPTV as a technology.