Design & Development of Small Linux Operating System for Browser Based Digital Set Top Box

This paper describes the design & development of small Linux operating system for browser based digital set top box. A set-top box is a device that enables a television set to receive and decode digital television (DTV) broadcasts and also enables a television set to become a user interface to access the Internet. A Small Linux root file system having all necessary basic files which are needed for booting the system in graphical user interface is customized in such a way that it supports direct to home (DTH) digital TV and a small size open source Web Browser. These customizations and developments are very specific to Digital TV services like watching free to air TV channels, recording of programs, broadcast a TV channel over local area network as a server and request for video on demand (VOD) as a client, more over it will support Internet Web Browser, USB, LAN connectivity and IR sensor for remote control. The current dynamics in this work will bring in the major changes in the user experience of watching digital television and surfing Internet on television.