Television commerce (t-commerce) is a shopping medium that uses a television network to present products and process orders. The processes that used in t-commerce include advanced product offering catalogs (video catalogs), order processing, exchanging of order information between companies in near real-time and the ability to offer multiple forms of payments that may be collected by different companies. Key issues for IPTV t-commerce billing include transferring accounting records through multiple systems that transfer between multiple companies that allow for presentation, processing and payment of orders.

At the IPDR conference, Amdocs presented a simulation of IPTV with examples of t-commerce which included a pizza icon that appeared during a time period that the viewer had ordered a pizza in 

the past. Amdocs research determined that t-commerce sales of pizzas in the United Kingdom is approximately 3% of all pizza sales. This example demonstrates that t-commerce can increase the revenue stream TV service providers. Assuming that many other products can be sold through t-commerce systems, the potential for t-commerce sales can dramatically increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) current generated by television service providers. 

To create a t-commerce system, product catalogs are created. Cataloging is the process of identifying media and selecting groups of items to form a catalog. A video catalog is the presenting of items available for selecting or ordering in a video format. Video catalog formats can range from a liner progression of products (such as a television shopping channel) to an interactive video shopping cart that 

Figure 1, Mixed Media Television Product Offer

Figure 3, IPTV Advertising Reporting

allows users to search and find items.

To integrate catalogs into video programming involves the mixing of media. The mixing of media on the same display (such as the pizza icon) will involve coordination between the television program and the product being offering. This information may include the type of program (e.g. no meat ads during vegetarian documentary programs), suitable time periods for product offers (e.g. no ads during a high action period) and the location and format of the offers (e.g. the product ad not appearing on top of a newscasters face). This means that a lot of descriptive information must be available from both the advertiser and the IPTV service provider.

Figure 1 shows how a television program can use mixed media to provide product offers to qualified consumers at specific times in a display location that is noticeable but not intrusive. This picture shows that during a news program, the viewer is presented with a pizza icon from a local pizza restaurant. This example shows that when the user selects the icon, a small window appears with the pizza offer details.

Amdocs discussed that vendors may be allowed to directly interact with their product offers as they know their customers better than TV service providers. This means that t-commerce systems will likely offer management portals. Offer management portals will allow the vendor to add new products, configure their presentation options for the product (e.g. mixed media) and define the product or service offers for specific market segments.

For t-commerce systems, after a viewer has selected a product offer, order processing occurs. Order processing is the defining of terms that are agreeable to the viewer for the acquisition of a product or service. Selected products are placed in a shopping cart for the particular user. Shopping carts are the electronic containers that hold online store items while the user is shipping. The online shopper is typically allowed to view and change items in their shopping cart until

they purchase. Once they have completed the purchase, the items are removed from their shopping cart until they start shopping again.

It is important that the t-commerce system identify the particular user as there can be several users in a household that share an IP television and each may have orders in progress with a variety of vendors. 

Another important part of the t-commerce system is the fulfillment process. Fulfillment is the process of gathering the products and materials to complete an order and shipping the products or initiating the services that were ordered. Depending on the types of products and services offered, IPTV order fulfillment can range from the immediate delivery of media products (such as games or television programs) to the delivery of products over an extended period of time (such as an order of books that has a mix of available and future ship dates).

Customers will likely associate responsibility for fulfilling the order to the TV service provider. To reduce the cost of customer care and to avoid potential negative conflicts for unfulfilled products, t-commerce systems may include order tracking capability. Order tracking is the ability of a customer, company or other person who is involved with an order to gather information as to the status of the processing of the order. 

Figure 2 shows a typical scenario of t-commerce order processing. This example shows that a viewer is presented with a product offer (a pizza). This offer is associated with an offer identification code to allow the user to select the offer and to be redirected to an order window. When the user completes the order, the order information is sent to the vendor (the pizza restaurant) where it is confirmed. This diagram shows that order status information may be provided from the vendor to the TV service provider and this information may be used to update the customer about the status of the order (pizza cooking). When the order is complete, the vendor provides information to the TV service provider that the order has been filled to allow the order record to be 

Figure 3, T-Commerce Payment Options 

marked as completed.

T-commerce orders can have a variety of payment methods that may need to be recorded in near real time to ensure the vendor and the t-service provider receive payment when the provide products or services.

Payment processing is the tasks and functions that are used to collect payments from the buyer of products and services. Payment systems may involve the use of money instruments, credit memos, coupons, or other form of compensation used to pay for one or more order invoices. T-commerce payment options include payment on the television bill, direct payment collection by the vendor, bill to 3rd party or pay or other payment options. It is likely that t-commerce will offer a mixed set of payment options to the viewer.

Figure 3 shows how a vendor may receive a t-commerce order report. This example shows that a t-commerce vendor may receive payment from a t-commerce customer directly by cash or a credit card transaction, the customer may be able to place the order on their television bill or the customer may use a 3rd party such as Paypal to pay for the transaction. 

To allow multiple companies to process order with multiple TV service providers, a standardized billing communication system is necessary. This billing system will need to transfer a variety of event information including order details, order status and payment information.