Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems
Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems

ICE-CREAM

:biggrin:A group of young male friends are shocked while watching Soccer game on TV. They are sitting on a sofa in the modern living room. The TV set is on the loft brick wall. It is evening outside the window.
© iStock / Dmytro Aksonov

Objectives

The ICE-CREAM project investigates how to make compelling experiences for end-users based on enabling technologies for interactive media, such as DVB-MHP, Internet and MPEG-4. The goals of the ICE-CREAM project are to extend the notion of interaction, to exploit domestic activities and familiar settings, and to make the user environment part of the visual experience.

The ICE-CREAM project develops applications in which live events (for example a soccer match) are enhanced on consumer demand with content that is created in real-time, broadcast streams are enhanced with content available from the Internet, and objects in the home are part of the presentation.
The application prototypes show different levels of interactivity for end-users. Business modelling frameworks are developed to specify the interchangeable roles of stakeholders (i.e., creator, producer, and consumer) to the service.
The ICE-CREAM platform consists of a MHP system that is extended with network services, MPEG-4 audio/video streaming and 3D graphics support.

Key issues

  • To investigate the relationships between consumer desires and needs, the appealing nature of interactive TV programmes and the development of a suitable and attractive business framework.
  • To design and integrate the software architecture for the interaction between the user interface and the object and scene descriptions.
  • To develop a number of iTV applications for demonstration and evaluation purposes
  • To integrate a demonstrator platform to run the interactive applications, evaluate it with users and experiment with new business models.
  • To provide a set of tools for the production of iTV applications

FOKUS Contribution

  • Interactive travel application as showcase for the potentials of the integration of broadcast, broadband and mobile environments
  • Production toolset which enables service providers to produce these kind of applications without programming effort

Partners

  • Philips Research (Netherlands)
  • NOB (Netherlands)
  • Imperial College (UK)
  • Bitmanagement Software GmbH (Germany)
  • Symah Vision (France)
  • Tomorrow Focus AG (Germany)
  • De Pinxi (Belgium)
  • Euskatel (Spain)