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A new territory of multi-user variable remote control for interactive TV

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Abstract

Unlike passive analog TV, interactive TV (iTV) is the next step toward interactivity that offers users a friendly interactive experience. As there are fewer studies focused on multi-user interaction in a local environment, we concentrate on multi-user interaction with families, especially within a home information system. Therefore, we propose a control service framework “MVC-iTV,” based on distributed computing and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, in which external displays (TVs or projectors) and handheld devices can be used for controlling iTV services by several members of the family at the same time, without any relocation. Further, the new remote control framework can free users from the restrictions of using one remote controller. The experiment results indicate that the MVC-iTV framework is applicable to the iTV service and that users can operate the service in any visible environment via wireless networking technologies. Besides, requirements of the hardware compatibility of the TV appliance and remote controller will be reduced in the MVC-iTV framework.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Taiwan National Science Council, under Grants NSC95-2221-E-324-019-MY3 and NSC96-2221-E-324-021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chaoyang University of Technology, Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan

    S. C. Wang & K. Q. Yan

  2. Hwa Hsia Institute of Technology, Zhonghe, Taipei, Taiwan

    T. C. Chung

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  1. S. C. Wang
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  2. T. C. Chung
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  3. K. Q. Yan
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Correspondence to K. Q. Yan.

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Wang, S.C., Chung, T.C. & Yan, K.Q. A new territory of multi-user variable remote control for interactive TV. Multimed Tools Appl 51, 1013–1034 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-009-0435-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-009-0435-0

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