Re: [HOME_NETWORK_TF] Possible resolution for issue-38 (CL APIs) and Opera API proposal

Hi all,

Thanks for the prompt Giuseppe - I was just about to propose precisely  
this. At the Berlin workshop we presented briefly on some demos/prototypes  
built using the "Universal Control" (UC) API we developed. There are a few  
public documents that describe the demos. The API itself has been  
published publicly.

I would like to suggest the following text to cover the BBC's related work:

"""
The BBC is non-profit, publicly funded broadcaster based in the UK that  
also engages in technical research. As part of its participation in the  
Home Network TF, the BBC has shared its own experimental API work that  
enables clients, including HTML user agents, to discover and communicate  
with television style devices within the home network.

This API defines a RESTful web service to be implemented by a television,  
set-top-box, or similar device. The data model represents programmes and  
sources of programmes in a relatively abstract way. The API in turn  
defines a uniform way to discover, identify, acquire (e.g. record) and  
control playback of programme content. There is also provision for  
starting and communicating with web or native applications running on the  
television. Applications using this API avoid having to deal with issues  
of codec, container format or transport protocol compatibility.

Documents providing background, an introductory overview and a draft  
specification of the API are available here:

     http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/02/universal-control.shtml
     http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper193.shtml
     http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/whitepaper194.shtml

The BBC has prototyped various remote control and second screen  
experiences that use this API. These include:

  * The presentation of time-synchronised slideshows
  * Near-lip-synced alternative audio
  * A Mobile phone as a remote control with support for blind users.
  * Enhancement of websites with awareness of current TV viewing

The following documents briefly describe some of these applications:

     http://www.w3.org/2010/11/web-and-tv/slides/BBC-Universal-Control-API.pdf
     http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/04/the-autumnwatch-companion---de.shtml

"""



On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:21:58 +0100, Giuseppe Pascale <giuseppep@opera.com>  
wrote:

> Hi again,
> on top of what I've written below,
> I was thinking if we should also reference relevant work related to the  
> use cases we mention in our document.
>
> E.g. for some of BBC use cases I remember matt & al. showing a demo  
> during the berlin workshop (or during some other event, can't quite  
> remember).
> We could reference these works from TF participants in the "related  
> works" section as well.
>
> This would help people (outside the TF) to get a good understanding of  
> what our requirements are.
> In fact, rather than the exact wording, at this stage what we need to  
> make it clear is the type of real word usecases we are dealing with.
>
> What do people think?
>
> /g
>
> On Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:14:31 +0200, Giuseppe Pascale  
> <giuseppep@opera.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>> among the issues still open, we have the CableLabs API  
>> proposal/prototype that was intended as a "proof of concept" to show  
>> how some of the usecases we have been discussed could be implemented.
>> While I think is out of scope for this group to discuss the technical  
>> details of the API, I think would be good to reference it from the  
>> requirement document just to show the work done from some TF members.
>> This means no endorsement from the group is implied.
>>
>> To achieve this, my proposal would be to add a section in the  
>> requirement document called "Related Works".
>> This will include a link to the CL proposal (with some text explaining  
>> what it is).
>> This section will also include a link to the Opera proposal under the  
>> same assumptions outlined above.
>>
>> I drafted some text in the requirement document here;
>> http://www.w3.org/2011/webtv/wiki/HNTF/Home_Network_TF_Requirements#Related_works_.28informative.29
>>
>> If anybody has comments/objections let me know. We will touch on it  
>> during next call but if you have any comment please try to raise it  
>> before the call.
>>
>> @Clarke:
>> I have proposed some text for the CableLabs section. Is very short so  
>> you may want to extend it a little bit. Feel free to provide me a  
>> better text.
>>
>> cheers,
>> /g
>>
>
>


-- 
| Matt Hammond
| Research Engineer, BBC R&D, Centre House, London
| http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/

Received on Sunday, 21 August 2011 17:09:24 UTC