<!--
EBIF - "Etv Binary Interchange Format". An Enhanced TV (ETV) application format that agents on legacy, resource constrained devices use to recognize that there is interactive content on the channel. EBIF defines the complete end-to-end system including how bits go on the wire, which authoring tools spit their bits out in EBIF, and which end user devices interpret or decode EBIF bits. Both content and service providers can pick whatever EBIF-spitting tools they want. Service providers additionally must select which ETV end user device software they buy. -->

EBIF - "Enhanced Binary Interchange Format".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_TV_Binary_Interchange_Format

The EBIF Development Path

ETV, as a category, is a subset of OCAP, and as such will coexist with it. Simply put, applications built for ETV will also run on OCAP.

Where OCAP and ETV differ is in equipment reach. ETV targets those digital boxes with less memory and processing resources than more advanced boxes that are slated for OCAP. Some of the recent ETV trials, for instance, ran on the Motorola DCT-2000 digital set top, which is generally acknowledged as the lowest common denominator for ETV-styled interactivity.

Since ETV is designed to run on nearly all fielded digital boxes, it is necessarily “thinner” in size. It initially focuses on “bound” applications, meaning interactivity triggers that pop up from within the show you’re watching.

Technically, ETV is different than OCAP because it doesn’t rely on the Java platform. Instead, it uses a thinner technique called “EBIF,” which stands for “Enhanced Binary Interchange Format.” Tech people tend to call it “ee-biff” for short. The

In short, EBIF defines how the bits go on the wire. Authoring tools spit their bits out in EBIF and set tops interpret the EBIF bits. Content providers can pick EBIF-spitting tools, which are available from various vendors.

CableLabs issued ETV specifications that spell out the technical details (see link below). The thing to remember is that EBIF is the mechanism that can make lightweight interactivity work within bound applications on the deployed base of more than 32 million digital set-top boxes in the United States.

ETV’s Major Components

Technically speaking, ETV has three major parts, and a growing list of related needs. First on the “major parts” list is a small chunk of software called a “user agent,” which gets downloaded into the digital box. The job of the user agent is to watch for incoming ETV triggers. When they appear (as “widgets,” in the lingo), the user agent runs them.

The second part of the ETV spec is signaling methods used to get the interactive triggers from their point of origination, to the user agent. Generally speaking, that’s a data carousel, not unlike what sends guide data to boxes, in some systems.

The third part is a standard set of authoring tools, for developers to write ETV applications. They need to be template-based and easy to use, so that creators’ innovations can get to market quickly.

Beyond that, ETV requires things like application servers, to hold what will likely be a widening variety of interactive services, and response servers, to collect and aggregate usage data. Then there’s the inevitable reports that are needed to show that an app ran when it was supposed to run and did what it was supposed to do.

Step By Step

In practice, it works like this: A program network uses the ETV form to create an application. The triggers for that application get inserted into the digital TV bit stream (the “MPEG-2 transport stream,” in tech lingo), using what’s called a “stream generator.” Stream generators can be located at a content originator’s facilities, or at a cable headend.

Meanwhile, the ETV-capable box gets loaded up with the user agent, and then it sits there, waiting and listening. When a widget slips in through that digital bit stream, the user agent leaps into action to decode and display the clickable thing on somebody’s cable TV screen.

Much of the current development ETV activity is taking place at CableLabs’ “interops,” also known as “plugfests” – meetings where various parties come together to work on new apps. CableLabs routinely hosts interops to help work on ETV and OCAP to move forward.

And, as that work advances, it’s safe to say that the heavy lifting for ETV will be to sort out what servers, delivery mechanisms, and other components are needed to bring ETV more actively into the consumer mainstream. How about an ETV-enabled Project Runway – anyone?

- Written by Leslie Ellis

Additional Information

ETV Specs – CableLabs ETV specs provide details on delivering applications on today’s digital set-top boxes.