A study on The Data Service bounded to The Travel-Themed Broadcasting Program

Ⅰ. Introduction

Ⅱ. Overview of Data Service

This data service is linked to the travel-themed broadcasting program and shows the viewers additional information related to the contents of the broadcasting program that changes every moment. In this study, the additional information of the travel-themed broadcasting program was defined as a place, an event, and background music, but various types of additional information can be added according to the request of a broadcaster or program provider.

A typical user scenario for this data service is as follow. When a broadcasting program linked with this data service starts, a notice indicating the existence and execution method of the data service is displayed on the upper right of the TV screen. When a viewer executes the data service, additional information on places, events, and/or background musics appearing in the broadcasting program is provided under the TV screen. Once output, the additional information is maintained until the viewer requests the additional information to be updated. If a viewer requests an update of additional information, it is changed to additional information of the places, events, and/or background musics that appear in the broadcasting program at that time. The data service is terminated when the viewer intentionally terminates, the linked broadcast program terminates, or tuned to another channel.

Figure 1 shows an example of a user interface that reflects the function of this data service. When watching a broadcasting program linked to the data service, a graphic indicating the existence and execution method of the data service is displayed on the upper right of the TV screen. When the viewer presses the red button on the remote controller, the data service is executed, and additional information shown currently in the broadcasting program is provided at the bottom of the TV screen by dividing it into place, event, and background music tabs. Viewers can select the tab to view additional information they want, and when new places, events, and background music appear in the broadcast program, they can update the additional information by pressing the <OK> button on the remote control. The viewer can terminate the data service at any time by pressing the <EXIT> button on the remote control. The interface of the data service is designed to have a depth of less than 3 levels without exceeding 1/3 of the TV screen based on the research in [10].

Fig. 1.

User Interface Structure of Data Service

The data service in this study was designed based on DVB-MHP [11], an international standard for data broadcasting, and was designed to operate as an ‘embedded’ data service. An embedded data service is stored in advance in the digital broadcasting receivers, so it can be executed quickly and t additional information can be sensitively synchronized with the contents of broadcasting programs.

The additional information to be provided to viewers in the data service can be changed at any time according to the intention of the broadcaster or broadcast program provider. Therefore, this study separated the additional information from the data service without implementing the additional information in the data service code. That is, the data service is stored in the digital broadcasting receiver, but the additional information of the broadcasting program is transmitted to the data service according to the start time of the broadcasting program. (See Figure 2)

Fig. 2.

Separating Additional Information from Data Service

The design of such a data service should be accompanied by the following studies. (1) A method of informing the data service of which point of time the additional information of a broadcasting program should be exposed, and (2) a method of supplying the additional information of a broadcasting program to the data service in a way consistent with the international standard DVB. The subject of this study is dealt with in the following sections.

Ⅲ. Formal Definition of the Additional Information and Exposing Points

3-1 Additional Information Definition

This study largely categorizes the types of additional information of travel-themed broadcasting programs into ‘Place’ type, ‘Event’ type, and ‘Background Music’ type. In recent years, as the importance of background music has increased in travel-themed broadcasting programs, this study also included background music and songs as major additional information of travel-themed broadcasting programs. By defining the type of additional information in this way, the data service can efficiently process the additional information.

• Additional Information of Place Type

The additional information of Place type includes the information about places such as historic sites, museums, and parks that are exposed in the broadcasting programs. In this study, the additional information of Place type was defined as place name, location information, promotional text, and other information. Other information may include an Internet URL, a search keyword, or a representative phone number from which detailed information about a place can be obtained. (See Fig. 3)

Fig. 3.

Definition of Place Type Additional Information

Above, <ID> is an ID that uniquely identifies the additional information in the broadcasting program. <ID> is used for the same purpose for additional information of Event type and Background Music type.

• Additional Information of Event Type

The additional information of Event type includes the information about local festivals, cultural events, and performance events exposed in the broadcasting programs. In this study, the additional information of Event type was defined as event name, event period, cast members, location information, promotional text, and other information. In the case of the event, the information of the cast is highly important, so it was classified as a separate item. (See Fig. 4)

Fig. 4.

Definition of Event Type Additional Information

• Additional Information of Background Music Type

The additional information of Background Music type includes the information about music or song information exposed in the broadcasting program. In this study, the additional information of Background Music type was defined as music title and singer information, lyricist and composer information, and other information. Other information may include a description of the original song when the song currently being broadcast is remade. (See Fig. 5)

Fig. 5.

Definition of Background Music (BGM) Type Additional Information

3-2 Exposing Points Definition

Travel-themed broadcasting programs have the property that the place to be visited continuously changes over time. For example, a program that introduced Jeju Island's travel course introduced a series of parks where you can enjoy non-powered carts. a snorkeling center, and a local restaurant. Therefore, in the data service, there must be a method of exposing additional information such as places, events, and music at an appropriate time according to the contents of the broadcast program. Therefore, the data service should have a method of exposing additional information, such as location, event, and background music, at an appropriate time, depending on the content of the broadcasting program. In this study, in order to divide the broadcast program into several sections and provide additional information according to the contents of the broadcast program in each section, the additional information exposure time information is formally defined as Fig. 6.

Fig. 6.

Definition of Information of Exposing Points of Additional Information

<Prog. ID> is the unique ID of the travel-themed broadcasting program managed by the broadcaster. <Section Info> is composed of <Section ID>, which can identify a specific section of the broadcasting program, and <Start Time> and <End Time> of the section period. <Start Time> and <End Time> are described as offsets in seconds from the start time of the broadcasting program. The set of <ID> is a collection of the additional information related to the places, events, and background musics exposed in the section designated by <Section Info>. Each <ID> is the same concept as the <ID> introduced in Section 3.1.

Ⅳ. Method for Transmitting Information

The SI (Service Information) of DVB [12], an international standard for digital broadcasting, is used to supply the data service with the additional information by type defined above and the exposure point information of the additional information. SI is a protocol for transmitting information necessary for channel management and electronic program guide (EPG), and defines various tables for transmitting the information of the broadcasting channels managed by broadcasters and the broadcast program information arranged in each broadcasting channel.

The SI table directly related to this study is an EIT-P (Event Information Table-Present) that transmits the information directly related to the currently aired broadcast program (eg program name, broadcast time, etc). Since EIT-P is repeatedly transmitted in a short period within 500ms, it is advantageous when transmitting information that needs to be sensitively synchronized at the start of a broadcasting program. All SI tables including EIT-P support the concept of ‘descriptor’ that can contain arbitrary information. This study defined the descriptors to transmit the additional information by type and the exposure point information of the additional information defined above. These descriptors are included in the EIT-P and transmitted to the data service.

Exposing_Point_Descriptor() contains information on the exposing point of additional information of a broadcast program, and is defined as shown in <Table 1>. The descriptor_tag, which is a descriptor identifier, has a value in the range of 0x80 to 0xFE to mean that it is a descriptor arbitrarily defined by the user. descriptor_length represents the size of the descriptor, and program_ID is an identifier of a broadcast program. section_ID is an identifier that uniquely identifies a section within a broadcast program (because it is 8 bits, one broadcast program can be distinguished into 256 sections), and start_time and end_time indicate when this section starts and ends from the start time of the broadcast program, respectively. They are expressed in seconds. In general, when considering that the length of a broadcast program is about 1 hour, if start_time and end_time are defined as 16 bits, the entire broadcasting program can be designated in seconds. Lastly, IDs are identifiers of descriptors that contain information about places, events, and background music exposed in this section.

Table 1.

Syntax of Descriptor for Exposing Points

Place_Info_Descriptor() contains the additional information of the Place type and is defined as in <Table 2>. The ID is an identifier of a descriptor that is uniquely distinguished within a broadcasting program, and thereafter, a place name, a place location, a promotional sentence, and other information are described as a character string.

Table 2.

Syntax of Descriptor for Place Information

Event_Info_Descriptor() contains the additional information of the Event type and is defined as shown in <Table 3>. It includes an ID that uniquely identifies this descriptor, and as event information, event name, event period, casting members, event location, promotional sentence, and other information can be described as a string. BGM_Info_Descriptor() contains the additional information of the Background Music type and is defined as in <Table 4>. It includes an ID that uniquely identifies this descriptor, and may describe music or song title, singer, lyricist, composer, and other information as a character string.

Table 3.

Syntax of Descriptor for Event Information

Table 4.

Syntax of Descriptor for BGM Information

The data service can identify the places, events, and background music information exposed in a specific section of the broadcasting program from Exposing_Point_Descriptor(), and can extract the additional information to be displayed on the screen from the associated descriptors.

Ⅴ. Conclusion

The Korea Tourism Organization suggested that visiting travel destinations introduced in broadcasting programs is a representative travel trend through analysis of social media's big data in 2018 and 2019. Related studies have also announced the results that broadcasting programs have a positive effect on viewers' intentions to visit travel destinations introduced in broadcasting programs.

This study designed a data service operated in conjunction with a travel-themed broadcasting program with the aim of reinforcing the intention to visit the travel destination by providing more detailed information about the travel destination to the viewers immediately while watching the broadcasting program. Specifically, this study designed a user interface structure of a data service reflecting the characteristics of a TV platform, and defined formally the representative additional information of a travel-themed broadcasting program. In addition, the study defined the information for timely exposure of additional information related to the contents of a broadcasting program, and a method of supplying the information to a data service using a DVB-SI table.

This study is meaningful in that it suggests a direction that can be of little help to the travel industry stagnated by the Corona 19 incident through a new attempt of linkage between travel-themed broadcasting programs and data services. We also expect that the linkage with travel-themed broadcasting programs will develop into useful use of data services that cannot find any recognizable uses other than VOD services and EPG services.

Acknowledgments

This research is based on the support of 『2020 Woosong University Academic Research Funding』

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