Efficient Native Processing Modules for Interactive DTV Middleware Based on the Small Footprint Set-Top Box

The concept of middleware for digital TV receivers is not new one. Using middleware for digital TV development has a number of advantages. It makes it easier for manufacturers to hide differences in the underlying hardware. It also offers a standard platform for application developers. Digital TV middleware enables set-top boxes(STBs) to run video, audio, and applications. The main concern of digital TV middleware is now to reduce its memory usage because most STBs in the market are small footprint. In this paper, we propose several ideas about how to reduce the required memory size on the runtime area of DTV middleware using a new native process technology. Our proposed system has two components; the Efficient Native Process Module, and Enhanced Native Interface APIs for concurrent native modules. With our approach, the required memory reduced from 50% up to 75% compared with the traditional approach. It can be suitable for low end STBs of very low hardware limitation.