3 Hybrid Broadband Broadcast TV services
3.1 HbbTV service concept

It is clear that HbbTV services can be activated by a user when user end device (TV or set-top-box) is connected to Internet. In that case a procedure of HbbTV service activation can be simply described as follows:

  1. TV channels (broadcasted by digital TV providers) supporting HbbTV technology carry in the simplest case special metadata (Internet link) signaling broadcast related application that is prepared on server of TV companies for downloading. There is also an option to carry application data inside the broadcast signal but its free capacity is usually low.
  2. When the user navigates to such TV channel the HbbTV compatible end device will download this (autostart) application and notify the user about new service that is available using simple activity on TV screen, e.g. red button blinking or little animation shown in a corner or an entire bar with options displayed at some edge of screen. This notification is active (depicted) for a few seconds and then hides.
  3. If the user presses a red button on the remote, this application is shown in full mode and offers all its functions.

Currently, smart TV technology offers users digital television and a lot of interactive services. Users can watch linear broadcast (TV or audio) programmes (left part of Fig. 2) and they can also activate smart platform (e.g. Samsung Smart Hub) offering access to a number of attractive applications utilizing broadband connection of TV set to provide necessary information (right part of Fig. 2 - Portal).

However, these applications are called as broadcast independent applications, i.e. they have no close relation to broadcast linear service (content).

Fig. 2 shows how HbbTV can integrate these applications and some of them to tie up to broadcasting services [5].

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Fig. 2 - HbbTV service concept [5]

As was already mentioned, HbbTV technology supports broadcast related as well as broadcast independent applications. The broadcast independent applications have no relations to any broadcasting service and they just allow the users to play games or access web social networks like e.g. Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube or other web services providing required information (e.g. weather). However, the HbbTV standard doesn’t specify concrete access mechanisms for them and manufacturers (or even third party operators) can develop and implement flexible portals where users can find and access applications they are interested in. Fig 2 also shows broadcast related applications which are activated by red button (or e.g. TXT button) and provide users with functions and information related to broadcasted content (quiz, voting, EPG).