ã€Abstract】This paper mainly introduces the design of high-definition universal set-top box based on software and hardware separation platform, breaking the traditional digital TV technology mode. All third-party software can no longer be integrated by set-top box manufacturers, and the independent modularization and standardization of each software are enhanced. The upgrade of the set-top box software is no longer difficult, and the cost is greatly reduced, which lays a foundation for the mass production of the set-top box and explores a useful way for the high-level conversion of digital television.
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[Keywords] software and hardware separation; HD; universal; set-top box
The Design of High Definition General STB
On basis of Software and Hardware Separation Platform
Zhen Zhiyao Yueqing Radio&TV Station Network Center
Zhejiang,Yueqing,325600
Abstract: This paper analyses the design of high definition general STB on basis of software and hardware separation platform, which break down the traditional technological model of digital TV. All the third softwares will not be integrated through STB manufacturers. The independent modularization and standardization of The software will be strengthened. The update of STB software will not be difficult any more. The cost will be greatly reduced. And then STBs can be mass production. It provides a good way for high-level digital TV transformation.
Keywords:Software and Hardware Separation; High Definition; General; STB
Foreword:
In the past, set-top boxes were designed and produced separately according to the special standards of CAs and browsers used by operators. The set-top boxes must be customized for a certain operator, the software design cost is high, the set-top boxes cannot be mass-produced, and the closed technology mode And the industry chain makes it difficult for new advanced set-top box chips to enter the market, resulting in low performance and high cost of set-top boxes. If HD set-top boxes are also developed in accordance with this model, it will be difficult to popularize. How to break the closure, not only to meet the special needs of operators, but also to reduce costs in mass production seems to be a common problem for everyone. Separating the operating system with the latest digital TV hardware and software can solve this problem well.
This paper introduces a universal HD set-top box solution based on Fujitsu's MB86H60 HD set-top box chip.
The closed digital TV software development model is based on the set-top boxes used by more than 50 million digital TV users in China, almost all of which are customized by operators from set-top box manufacturers. The development of digital TV software, which plays a key role in the digitization process, has been closed, especially for CA software. The development process is closed all the time, and a large number of private black box technologies are used. In addition, all third-party software needs to be integrated by the set-top box manufacturers, which greatly increases the software development and test burden of the set-top box manufacturers. The development cycle of the set-top box is long, generally from the advent of a chip to mass production, it takes a long time to promote IT. The rapidly developing "Moore's Law" has lost its role in the digital television industry.
In the early stage of digital TV development, as long as a small number of third-party software became the market standard, the choice of third-party software to be integrated by set-top box manufacturers was limited, and it could only be selected among a few CAs and browser software that became the market standard; in turn, more set-top box manufacturers were obtained. Supported third-party software such as CA and browser makes it easier to consolidate its market position, thus forming a very closed digital TV software industry environment. Other software that has not become a market standard, even if it is advanced, will not be recognized by the market and cannot compete. Due to insufficient competition, the development of software such as front-end digital TV CA and browser has become a “enclosure†game between a few companies entering the market earlier, which has led to serious backwardness in digital TV technology. s level.
Software standards such as digital TV CAs and browsers that become market standards are basically private, and the promotion of such products is actually the promotion of private standards. The software and hardware structure of each set-top box manufacturer varies widely. In order to spread the risk, operators generally purchase from a number of set-top box manufacturers. The software and hardware design of each set-top box manufacturer varies widely. After the operator accepts such a variety of set-top boxes and purchases them in bulk, The problems caused by the serious confusion of the set-top boxes used by the broadcasting and television operators, the difficulty of upgrading, the inability to load new services, and the inability to make up for the security loopholes have occurred. Many operators who are shifting are caught in a dilemma: stop, the capital chain may Break; continue to sink deeper and deeper.
Under this circumstance, some radio and television operators have made active efforts and attempts. For example, Shaanxi Radio and Television Network has established a "set-top box unified solution joint laboratory" for the problem of set-top box confusion, difficulty in upgrading set-top box software, and inability to load value-added services. ". According to Lu Xiaoming, secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shaanxi Radio and Television Network, the work of the joint laboratory not only prompted Shaanxi Broadcasting and Television Network to gradually form a unified standard in the function, structure and modularization of software and hardware, to guide the standardization of the company's future set-top box products. Development, large-scale application and general promotion also provide reference for the establishment and improvement of domestic industry standard specifications. At the same time, it also effectively reduces the investment cost, operation and maintenance cost of the set-top box of the broadcasting and television network operators, and simplifies the logistics distribution process. Vendors share feature configurations, share technical specifications, and solutions, which greatly reduce the cost of maintaining set-top boxes. What is particularly striking is that this initiative has opened up all aspects of R&D, procurement, production, technology, customer service, operation and sales of radio and television network terminal application equipment, creating a new model of long-term cooperation for the market competition between operators and suppliers. It has established a unified, open, competitive and orderly market order for the industrialization of cable TV, laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of digital TV after the translation of digital TV.
The practice of Shaanxi Radio and TV Network is worthy of consideration and learning by our operators. Although this approach is still at the level of hardware and software, it is a great improvement for operators. Software integration is still required when it comes to core standard software issues such as CA, middleware, etc., and these standards are still private and irreplaceable. Software modules need to be integrated and cannot be replaced by set-top box manufacturers. This is the main source of the current digital TV industry.
In the process of contact with manufacturers, Tektronix's software and hardware separation operation platform is worthy of in-depth study. This open platform is conducive to the initiative of the radio and television to master the standards. On this platform, even CA can become an open technology, which is very beneficial to the integration and standardization of broadcasting and television.
Open software and hardware separation operation platform introduction Whether it is a set-top box manufacturer or a broadcasting and television operator, it is hoped that the set-top box can have a unified open software and hardware platform, and standardize as much as possible, so that the set-top box can be universal and convenient for mass production. However, because of the chaotic standards, digital TV has now entered the Warring States era, and it is easy to unify it. In the absence of a standard hardware platform, it is very important to first unify the software and hardware development platform. The above mentioned contribution of Shaanxi Radio and Television in the industry is here. However, the software and hardware of the optical unified set-top box part is far from enough. If the standard software such as CA and middleware still integrates the private standard, the closed-end development model will continue to be used. The joint lab only replaces the R&D department of the set-top box manufacturer. Will not change the long-term closed industry. To be open, you need an updated development model and philosophy.
The digital TV software and hardware separation development platform used in this design is provided by Shandong Taixin. It is similar to Apple's iPhone SDK development kit. Its API is very close to the lower layer and completely open, allowing any digital TV software engineer to develop on this platform. The set-top box software can be compiled and debugged independently, and then downloaded to the set-top box for download. It does not need to be developed according to the traditional set-top box software development mode, breaking the tradition of all third-party software being integrated testing by the set-top box manufacturer, thus greatly reducing the The software workload of set-top box manufacturers reduces the cost of set-top boxes and expands the channel source of software. The following is a block diagram of the open software and hardware development platform:
On this open platform, there is a rich platform software API interface, which contains commonly used software modules, such as network, SI information analysis and so on.
Downloadable CA is the premise of implementing open software and hardware separation development platform. In the development process of digital TV conditional access software, for security, CA company must sign confidentiality contract with set-top box manufacturer, CA software integration test and other work are confidential. Under the state, CA relies on this kind of confidentiality to ensure security, which is the main reason for the closed development of digital TV software. If digital TV software is to be open, it must break the closedness of digital TV CA software development. In order to resolve this contradiction, Thaksin proposed the concept of downloadable CA, which cleared the obstacles to the implementation of the software and hardware separation platform.
Downloadable CA means that CA software can be downloaded from the front end to run in a set-top box without software integration. Since the CA is downloadable, it can avoid the risk of the CA algorithm and the key being completely collapsed once it is broken. This is a long-term entanglement in the CA "seeing death", and it is also the discretion of various broadcasting and television operators in choosing CA. And prudent, CA development reasons for confidentiality. The downloadable CA technology can immediately replace the "seeing light" algorithm and key, or even the entire CA system, and get rid of the fate of the traditional CA "seeing death", so this downloadable CA can be open. The security and openness of this CA is self-evident because it completely changes the traditional mode of CA as a black box technology, making it possible to open the development process of digital TV software. Downloadable CA has the following two forms:
1. If the algorithm or key is downloaded, it is a cardless CA technology. The security of this technology depends on the unique ID number and encryption engine in the main chip of the set-top box, and the FLASH with the ID number.
2. If only the CA part of the set-top box is downloaded, plugging in the smart card is the traditional smart card CA technology. At this time, it is possible to replace the CA without replacing the set-top box when the CA is replaced. Traditional smart card CA is almost impossible to convert to other CAs in order to solve its own security vulnerabilities. This is also the main reason for smart card CA to bundle operators.
On the open software and hardware separation platform, CA can independently develop the set-top box CA and download it to the set-top box. In this way, the closure of the CA can be limited to the inside of the CA company, so this closure will not affect the development of other software. The development of the same other software and the spread of the original code are also limited to their own scope, thus protecting their respective intellectual property rights, improving the enthusiasm of developing software, and ensuring the openness of the entire platform.
In order to facilitate future upgrades, the MB86H60 universal HD set-top box is used in the software and hardware separation development platform. We plan to unify the HD set-top box hardware to the Fujitsu MB86H60 platform. The block diagram of the MB86H60 set-top box chip is as follows. It is compatible with the upcoming MB86H61 and has AVS and VC1 decoding functions: 
The Fujitsu MB86H60 HD set-top box chip uses the ARM1176JZF-S CPU, which is the same as the CPU in the iPhones we usually use. Its biggest advantage is high speed, low power consumption and high reliability. The chip works at 324MHz, which can achieve the efficiency of other chips working at 450MHz clock, HD H.264/MPEG2 decoding; integrated HDMI HD interface, HDCP copy protection; Ethernet and USB built-in; built-in encryption engine for DRM control The program register space is 128MB, two independent high-speed DDR2 channels, the system software operation and HD decoding do not affect each other; the normal power consumption of the whole chip is 1.2W, no external heat sink is needed. In particular, the chip has a NAND FLASH controller, which can be combined with a low-cost and large-capacity NAND FLASH to meet the demand for large-capacity storage space of the Taixin software and hardware open platform. It can also be connected with a large-capacity NAND FLASH. HD PUSH VOD. The universal ARM1176 CPU makes the HD solution more open on the Tektronix platform, and can easily meet the needs of many third-party software developers in the future to develop application software on the platform, including CA, middleware and other software, and even easily transplant mobile games. To the set-top box, because 90% of the mobile phone CPUs in the market are ARM CPUs, the proportion of high-end functional phones using ARM11 CPUs is higher. In addition, because the MB86H60 can have a high network speed, it can also be designed as an IPTV/DVB dual-mode set-top box.
In addition, the MB86H60 also has built-in Tektronix CA and DRM engines to effectively protect the copyright of program providers.
Product reliability and stability design and guarantee Fujitsu's MB86H60 HD set-top box chip is jointly designed by Fujitsu of Japan and Fujitsu of Germany. The rigorous and meticulous work of Japanese and German engineers laid the foundation for the high-quality research and development of this HD chip. . Through the following optimized design and professional configuration, this HD interactive set-top box has more stable performance, better quality and higher cost performance.
ï¬ MB86H60 HD decoding dedicated main chip, each chip has a unique tamper-proof ID number, and Tektronix dedicated encryption engine to ensure the security of the CAS used in this solution. In addition, high-quality image and sound decoders can be configured to ensure high quality video and audio performance and high software running speed.
ï¬ The high frequency head uses the international famous brand ALPS TDAE to achieve a lower receiving threshold and ensure stable signal reception.
ï¬ Select regular brand large-capacity DDR2 and NAND FLASH to ensure the stability of software operation and the expansion of future functions.
ï¬ Adopt SOR's NOR FLASH. The NOR FLASH read and write speed is fast, and each chip also has a unique non-tamperable ID number, which can be used with the MB86H60 to make the CAS security of this solution higher.
Software Structure Overview The software of this solution is hierarchical, from bottom to top: the underlying driver, operating system, application software layer, software and hardware separation and adaptation layer.
Software separation is an important development direction of digital TV software in recent years. It breaks the closed development mode of digital TV with CA as the center, allowing software companies to develop digital TV software on an open platform. The openness, scalability and standardization of digital TV software require such a platform. This software and hardware separation platform technology is open, allowing software companies to independently develop software modules on this platform. Each software module is independent of each other. Radio and TV operators can only download from the front end to the set-top box, saving the integration time of individual modules. It is convenient for the standardization of digital TV software, avoiding the software and hardware bundle of the set-top box, and any software upgrade and improvement need to re-integrate the drawbacks of the test, and the inconvenience caused by the upgrade of the set-top box. The performance is more obvious. It is worth noting that this platform does not need to provide CA library files to set-top box manufacturers, and the security is greatly improved. It can allow the radio and television to change the CA algorithm and key at any time. The CA operating environment can also be changed at any time, and can be extended based on CA. Various functions can realize the platformization of CA and also facilitate the independent modularization and standardization of software.
The software development process is very convenient to develop software on this software and hardware separation platform. After defining the interfaces between the modules, each module can be developed and tested in parallel. When the development is completed, it becomes a standardized software module, and it also reduces a lot of software integration and testing time. The software development process is as follows:
With this open software development model, the biggest advantage is that each module can be independently developed and replaced independently, which facilitates the standardization of software modules, expands the software source of digital TV, facilitates the unified upgrade of set-top box software and the random loading of value-added services. The development direction of digital TV software can be said to bring a revolution to the broadcasting and television industry. Yueqing Radio and TV has opened up from the leadership to the grassroots engineering and technical personnel, and dares to accept new things and new technologies. It is also the reason why Yueqing Radio and TV appreciates the separation of software and hardware. . If its shortcomings are that it is not easy to be accepted by conservative radio and television that is conservative in its mainstream consciousness, there are still few application cases, but objectively speaking, this has nothing to do with the technical level of broadcasting and television operators.
It is concluded that the use of the high-performance MB86H60 HD set-top box chip to develop HD set-top boxes with the open hardware and software separation platform of Tektronix enables software engineers to quickly master digital TV technology and knowledge, which is of great help to popularize digital TV software knowledge. The development of digital TV software is no longer limited to a few companies in the past, and the source of software has also been broadened. The separation of software and hardware allows software development and hardware production to be undertaken by different companies. The open software development platform allows many software companies to develop software for set-top boxes, and is not integrated by the set-top box manufacturers, but is independently downloaded by the operators, so the set-top box manufacturers can get rid of each Different requirements of home operators can mass produce common set-top boxes and greatly reduce the cost of set-top boxes. At present, radio and television plans to use this program for high-definition two-way translation. This is a good choice for areas like Yueqing, which is relatively affluent and has not yet been digitized. It is also in line with the development direction of digital TV.
Software and hardware separation technology is still a very new technology at present, and most radio and television operators have not really realized the convenience brought by this advanced technology. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has clearly stated in the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Radio and Television Cable Networks" that the provincial radio and television departments should actively seek the support of the government, organize the formulation of practical and feasible plans, and clearly integrate the road map and timetable to promote The specific implementation will ensure that the provinces will basically complete the integration before the end of 2010, laying the foundation for the scale and industrialization of the national radio and television cable network in the future. With the promotion of policies, the pace of provincial network integration will be further accelerated. Taixin's open software and hardware separation platform is conducive to the establishment of independent standards by broadcasting and television, avoiding the constraints imposed by private closed standards, and is very beneficial to the integration and standardization of broadcasting and television. It is believed that the open software and hardware separation operation platform will play its due role.
About the Author:
Zheng Zhisheng, born in 1969, male, is currently the director of the Network Center of Radio and Television Stations in Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province. He is an engineer and mainly engaged in: cable TV analog TV, digital TV transmission technology, IPTV technology, cable TV two-way transformation technology, digital TV HD Set-top box technology.
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