Main Objective

The STORit project investigates end-to-end solutions for the delivery of multimedia services to end-users involving the combination of a broadband delivery channel such as DVB, lower bandwidth connections such as internet and affordable local mass storage at the users home. The project will focus on two application areas: digital television and remote learning.

In the television area, we will investigate ways to provide and obtain additional information to accompany the broadcasts, both incorporated in DVB and through separate channels. On the one hand, this will help the consumer to get easier access to the many services and sources of information provided, matched to his personal preferences. On the other hand, the service provider will have more and better means to lead the user to other services offered, such as related programs, publications, web sites, etc.

In the remote learning area, we will focus on options for study at the users home, making extensive use of local storage, but also of low-bandwidth connections with teachers to achieve interactivity. Here too, personalised service will play an important role, in order to optimise the learning process for each individual student.

A system will be developed to implement such end-to-end solutions. This will include tools to prepare content and additional data, a home storage system supporting several storage media and delivery channels, and user interfaces to present it all to the user in an intelligible and personalised way.

Technical Approach

The project will begin with an extensive analysis of the application areas under study. How can we make the recording of television broadcasts easier, how can we make access to different services more transparent to the user, how can we personalise the training process, etc. And what ingredients are required to realise the desired functionality?

Based on an analysis of the digital television and remote learning applications, a common hardware and software platform will be devised that supports both. The platform will to some extent make use of the results of the SMASH project (AC018) in which many of the STORit partners have participated.

The local storage server developed in SMASH, based on a combination of a linear tape drive and a hard disk, can be reused in the STORit project. It will be extended with new storage media including optical discs and the digital successor of VHS, D-VHS. Also several ways of communication will have to be incorporated, such as internet-based communication and access to additional information in DVB streams.

The platform will also support the software modules required by both application areas, such as storage content management, intelligent retrieval, agent technology to achieve personalisation, and user interface technology.

On this common platform the two applications, digital television and remote learning services, will be implemented. At the end of the project, both will be operational.

Summary of Trial

Both applications developed in the course of the STORit project will be operational, and will be tested with real users. Realistic user trials can only be done once the hardware and software platform have been completed and the applications developed on it are up and running, i.e. towards the end of the project. But for some parts, e.g. a user interface concept, dedicated tests can be done in earlier stages. The tests will mainly be performed in a laboratory environment, but we intend to show the working systems to a wider public on, e.g. a conference or trade show.

Key Issues

The main issue in the digital television services application area is the exploration of options to exploit mass home storage in new ways, to the benefit of both the consumer and the service provider. Transparency and affordability to both user and provider are of key importance here. Underlying this, optimisation of the required storage system is vital to the smooth operation of the new services.

In the remote learning area, a key issue is the optimal use of the combination of local mass storage and a low-bandwidth channel for interactivity and feedback. Also ways of personalising the material and the user interface to adapt to individual students of various levels are of prime importance.

Expected Achievements

At the end of the project, we expect to have both the applications in remote learning and digital television services operational, based on an improved mass home storage device, supporting several storage media, developed in the project. In the course of the project, we will have gained new knowledge on the efficient use of local storage to the benefit of the user as well as the service provider. New services will be generated that exploit this knowledge and give consumers easy access to large quantities of data, tuned to his personal preferences. We expect to use the insights gained, especially in the use of local storage in combination with DVB, in contributions to standardisation, e.g. in DAVIC.

Expected Impact

Storage will play an increasingly important role in our homes in the near and more distant future, as the quantity of information reaching the home through different channels increases. There will be a need for systems that manage this information in an intelligible way and provide easy access to services at an affordable cost, such as developed in the STORit project. By experimenting with the possibilities of digital broadcasting, internet and mass home storage in an early stage, we expect the results of the STORit project to form a basis for services that will be standardised (e.g. in DAVIC) and subsequently adopted in the real world of broadcasting.

list of participants

contact:

Edwin Montie, project leader STORit
Philips Research Laboratories
Prof. Holstlaan 4
5656 AA Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 40 2743225
Fax: +31 40 2444648
E-mail: montie@natlab.research.philips.com

STORit public homepage:  http://www.extra.research.philips.com/euprojects/storit/