article - Philips Research

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Open source and proprietary software in harmony
An example of where Philips has incorporated its proprietary software
alongside open-source middleware (in this case Linux) is its Active Block
I/O Scheduling System (ABISS). This technology – which essentially enables
real-time hard disk access at low power for reliable data intensive streaming
(e.g. high-density video) – will be critical to ensure a media center can provide
seamless broadcast capabilities. Particularly when asked to
multi-task due to access requests made by other applications and users
during operation.
The ABISS system architecture is shown in fi gure 2. A set of modifi cations
to the Linux kernel provides the basic ABISS framework. The scheduler itself
can be implemented as a Loadable Kernel Module, which interfaces with the
framework using the standard Linux module interface. Philips wanted to
allow any application to use the ABISS functionality and allow third parties
to provide proprietary schedulers with the ABISS framework, while protecting
the IPR in its own scheduler.
Main article media centers Main article media centers
alongside major applications from established vendors), as illustrated in fi gure 1 on the left.
Philips already has a number of proof-of-concept applications where proprietary solutions run
on open-source software such as Linux in a commercially protected product. Examples are the
Linux OS-based Nexperia STB810 system solution (see box ‘The ‘mythical set-top box’) and
the ABISS system architecture (see box ‘Open source and proprietary software in harmony’.
Both products adapt low-cost, open-source Linux software from the PC world to fi t the needs
of the CE space without sacrifi cing intellectual-property right (IPR) protection. Such an ‘open
source’ and CE alignment could prove invaluable to the development of a true media center,
whether a Linux or proprietary OS was used.
The global aim would be to produce a single, modular, standard platform that really does offer
the best of all worlds (which will be crucial to consumer acceptance). This would be able to
support each individual company’s proprietary solutions as almost ‘plug-in’ type products that
will have gradually migrated over time from their standalone contemporary cousins.
For its part, Philips has already developed some illustrative plug-in software applications
designed to customize the output of a media center (whether existing or in the future) to suit
an individual’s precise needs. (See box “Your personal Clint Eastwood Channel”.)
Protecting IPR
Despite the optimism, turning the Open Media Center vision into a reality in the fi ercely
competitive world of consumer electronics won’t be easy or risk-free. There will be enormous
competitive constraints; chief among which is how CE fi rms will protect their intellectualproperty
rights (IPR) within such a vast and far-reaching, essentially software-based program.
“One way an Open Media Center could approach this is by breaking down the application into
a common middleware platform upon which customized and IPR protected proprietary plug-in
applications can be supported,” explains Arnoud Engelfriet, a patent attorney and IPR specialist
within Philips Intellectual Property and Standards (IP&S).
Application Library Daemon
Linux
kernel ABISS
Scheduler
Policy 1
Policy 2
Figure 2
“What format the common middleware – i.e. joint development software stack – would take,
would have to be carefully considered. That said, the joint development model would in my
opinion be entirely capable of supporting a robust IPR protection mechanism for the plug-ins,”
Engelfriet adds. “The challenge would be ensuring that this IPR plug-in mechanism maintained
a properly secure distance between the open and proprietary components, but did not inhibit
their ability to freely communicate with the middleware during operation.”
“ Industry collaboration is the only viable way forward to migrate
existing product offerings into a harmonized, universal solution. ”
Frank van Tuijl, Philips Research,
Chasing the big prize
In the longer term, Philips believes the Open Media Center vision is a viable way for the CE
market to meet market expectations for what next-generation, universal media center
solutions could and should be. While it does not intend to aggressively thrust the concept on
the world’s major CE vendors, it does intend to begin tentative discussions and to highlight why
it would be the best solution for CE.
“According to our research, 80 percent of the profi ts from a next-generation open media
center product would come from the plug-ins,” says van Tuijl. “This means companies could
concentrate their product differentiation efforts there, while minimizing commercial risk on the
middleware by collaborating. There would be absolutely no competitive advantage for any fi rm
to develop the middleware on its own.”
“This means the Open Media Center concept is about as perfect a win-win for CE companies
and consumers as can be expected in the real world,” summarizes Kaashoek. “It will create the
kind of competition that will drive the on-going development of continually improving and new
innovative applications, but at the same time give consumers enormous choice and value. This
means the CE fi rms get access to what could be the largest consumer electronics market the
world has ever seen, at a migratory pace that is technically achievable and commercially low
risk, and in a way that will give consumers ever widening access to products that exactly meet
their needs at a price level they can afford. That is what the Philips Open Media Center vision
is all about.”
Frank van Tuijl l Philips Research l frank.van.tuijl@philips.com
Extra info www.research.philips.com/password l media centers l open invention network
Your personal ‘Clint
Eastwood’ channel
Imagine how compelling it would be
for Clint Eastwood fans if their media
center could scan the channels for
Clint’s fi lms and collate them into a
special ‘Clint Eastwood Channel’.
With the Philips Flexchannels plug-in
– designed to run on an open, Linux
OS-based media center – they could do
just that. Flexchannels is a way to create
personalized TV channels.
The system records the TV content that
matches the profi le of the user-defi ned
channel (e.g. “fi lms starring or directed
by Clint Eastwood”), creates a sequence
for replay, and deletes content when it
has been viewed. It is also possible to
supplement the recorded material with
on-demand content.
Other illustrative plug-ins for the Open
Media Center include ‘Distributed
Collaborative Recommender’ and
‘Movie-in-a-Minute’. The Recommender
gathers personal TV program ratings
from users around the world using a
technique called ‘collaborative fi ltering’
and suggests personalized
recommendations from users with
similar viewing profi les. Movie-in-a-
Minute is an automatically generated
short preview of a recording. It helps
the user to select a program by showing
sample video fragments in a quick and
entertaining way.
10 Philips Research Password 26 l February 2006 Philips Research Password 26 11
l February 2006