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User Identification
A key challenge for profile management in IPTV
systems is user identification. There are a variety of types of users,
devices and services in IPTV systems. In addition, there may be several
varying identification codes for each of these.
Some of the ways to identify users include
account codes, device serial numbers, email address, IP address (which can
dynamically change), telephone number, screen name, social security
number, government ID or a variety of user IDs.
Users may have multiple identification codes
such as several screen names or telephone numbers. These identification
codes can have different scopes when they are used. For example, a video
conference that is provided over a company telephone number may be billed
to a company account whereas a personal video conference on the same
multimedia computer needs to be billed to a personal account. |
Figure 1 shows how there may be several types
of users in an IPTV system and each user may have multiple
identification numbers or codes. This example shows that a user may be
identified by their telephone number, account number, user ID, IP
address or screen name.
Usage Tracking
Usage tracking is the gathering, classifying,
and organization of usage events. It is possible to track virtually
all IPTV usage events such as viewed media, time of viewing, viewing
habits (e.g. fast forward, rewind), which segments are popular, which
segments are skipped, which ads are viewed and which are expanded
along with the types of devices used to watch the media. |
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Privacy Requirements
Privacy requirements are the regulatory and business
rules for the restriction or presentation formats of information that is
provided to people or companies other than those that own or have rights to
obtain the information. Privacy laws are regulatory requirements that restrict
the use and transfer of information that is considered as private to person,
company or owner of the information. Violations of privacy can cause
embarrassment or financial losses.
A key potential challenge for IPTV privacy is the
linking of relatively unimportant or unusable information to create more
useful information that can violate the privacy of individuals. For example,
if one order includes only the last 4 digits of an 8 digit account number,
this may not be very valuable. However, if another invoice were linked that
included the first 4 digits of the account number, the entire account number
has been obtained.
Some of the privacy issues include protecting the
numbers, connections, or media requested or accessed by individuals. IPTV
service providers may need to protect the identity and location of users who
do not want to be listed in directories.
Privacy can mean different things to different
people. Companies can have a privacy policy or privacy statements to inform
customers of the potential uses of customer information. Privacy policies are
the self proclaimed rules a receiver of information claims to follow when a
customer or visitor sends or provides information. Privacy policy rules
typically state how the information may be used and who the information may be
distributed to.
Content Management
A content management system identifies, categorizes
and manages the storage and distribution of content. Identification of content
for an IPTV system can be as complicated as there are a variety of |
media identification codes that are used for
different types of media such as media files, streaming media or images.
Another aspect of content management is the need
for standardization of content classifications. Broadcast media typically
includes metadata that describes the content. These descriptions are commonly
changed by local broadcast service providers to meet the cultural and
preferences of their viewers. For example, a program that is classified as a
"Thriller" in one geographic area may be classified as a "Suspense" movie in
another area. The changing or use of non-standard content management
classifications can result in the wrong billing rates or the potential
delivery of content to unauthorized viewers (such as the delivery of adult
content to minors).
Another potential challenge for content management
in IPTV systems is that the characteristics, rights and value of content can
change over time. For example, a breaking news story may be given priority
display and higher than average advertising rates may be charged when the
media is viewed.
Offer Management
Offer management is the process of creating,
assigning and tracking specific product and service offers from people and
companies. An IPTV service provider may allow other companies to create and
manage offers as the providers of content may have knowledge about specific
needs or events that can enhance a marketing campaign.
Figure 2 shows how an offer management system may
allow for the packaging, pricing and promoting of offers to viewers. In this
example, a content aggregator has created a promotional offer for a music
video with a collectable shirt that is sent to viewers after a concert event
has occurred in their geographic area.
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Figure 2, IPTV Offer Management |
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Figure 3, Media Portability Management |
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Partner Management
Partner management is the process of identifying,
assigning terms and tracking performance of companies that have a
collaborative (partnering) relationship. Partner management systems may
allow affiliated companies to retrieve, analyze and possibly provision
services for IPTV systems.
Media Portability Management
Media portability is the ability to transfer
media from one device or storage area to another device or storage area.
Portability rights are the permissions granted from an owner or
distributor of content to transfer the content to other devices (such as
from a set top box to a portable video player) and other formats (such as
low bit rate versions).
Figure 3 shows how a media portability
management system may be used to allow users to transfer media from one
device to another. This example shows how a person has downloaded a TV
program to
their set top box. |
The media portability management system has
setup authorization for the media to be transferred throughout the
user's personal domain for a period of 24 hours. This allows the
person to access and view the program through other devices in the
home and to transfer it to their personal media player.
Network Requirements Management (NRM)
A network requirements manager is a person or
function that identifies, determines and assigns network resources
that are required to provide features or services. At the IPDR
seminar, the Amdocs IPTV demonstration demonstrated that the IPTV
system may be able to determine the requirements for services the
customer selects and automatically determine if the capabilities of
the network can provide the types of services the user has required.
IPTV networks may have limitations on what
services it can offer that depend on the location and status of the
network. Examples of
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Figure 4, IPTV Network Requirements Management |
