A Visual Compositing Syntax for Ancillary Data Broadcasting

Ancillary data transmission using the MPEG transport layer of the ATSC Digital Television standard can enable a wide range of new services for television broadcasters, and other distribution channels that carry DTV bit streams. This paper analyzes the data broadcast opportunity, and requirements for standards to support the local display of information carried as ancillary data. — Managing the program multiplex to optimize the utilization of MPEG transport packets presents a variety of opportunities and challenges to broadcasters. The paper will examine three types of data that will be carried in the multiplex: programmed; periodic; and opportunistic. Programming opportunities for each data type will be identified and the technical requirements examined. The ability to create local raster representations from ancillary data is a basic requirement for DTV receivers in applications that include: closed captioning for the hearing impaired; emergency messaging; and electronic program guides. A visualization and compositing syntax for ancillary data will be proposed and relationships to other standards such as HTML-based web browsers will be examined.

Published

1997-02

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00206

ISBN

978-1-61482-926-3