A feasibility study of building Set-top box user interfaces using Scalable Vector Graphics

Abstract: An IPTV Set-top box enables the possibility of doing much more than decodingtelevision content. Its Ethernet interface gives it the same possibilities to communicatewith the outside world as any network device. This enables a wide rangeof services from internet radio to acting as a digital media receiver in your homenetwork. These highly interactive services increase the demands for responsiveand visually attractive user interfaces.Due to the cost-sensitive market of IPTV STBs the preferred platform to developthe user interface is the HTML browser as it allows for fast developmenttimes and low costs. As a W3C standard it also offers high portability and hardwareabstraction making it easy to use more than one STB vendor. The cons ofHTML based GUIs are low performance and lacklustre graphics.This thesis aims to find out if SVG can be used to achieve rich, scalable and animatedgraphics with high performance and still keep the attractive characteristicsof HTML.To do this much effort was put into identifying the strenghts and weaknesses ofSVG. The lessons learned resulted in an SVG AJAX framework called TOIXSVGmaking it possible to develop SVG GUIs in the same manner as modern Rich InternetApplications, enabling component reuse to make sure development time scalespreferably with the scope and complexity of the user interface. Along with theframework several new widgets had to be developed to achieve the targeted functionality.As a proof of concept a mock-up GUI was created with the frameworkand widgets.