Standard-Compliant Content Adaptation in IPTV Systems

Abstract

IPTV, which is based on the universal IP infrastructure, has the inherent nature of heterogeneity in terms ofcontent, networks, terminals, and users. An important solution to cope with such heterogeneity is content adaptation.This paper reviews the standardization issues related to content adaptation in IPTV standards. We first describe the basicarchitecture of content adaptation and its integration into the ITU-T IPTV architecture. Then typical methods of contentadaptation in practical IPTV systems are discussed in detail. Especially, we highlight the standard metadata tools that arepotential to support adaptation methods within ITU-T IPTV architecture. Some recent developments in other standardbodies are also discussed.