Open Cable Application Platform

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Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) is software for consumer electronics that is established in Europe, Asia and Australia. The Alternative Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) is being promoted in North America as the software standard for interactive television. It is now being marketed under the tru2way brand. Like MHP, OCAP is also based on Java , so both standards are based on the Globally Executable MHP Standard (GEM) defined by the DVB project . OCAP was defined by the American Cable Labs in collaboration with the DVB project.

The differences to the MHP are rather minor, so most (or GEM-compatible) applications can run unchanged on both systems. Compared to the MHP platform, however, OCAP has an important extension, the so-called monitor application. This replaces the manufacturer-dependent navigator from MHP with an OCAP-based application (usually provided by the cable network provider) with extended rights. This takes on the tasks of the MHP navigator, but the “look and feel” can be provided by the cable network provider.

There are currently two versions of the OCAP standard:

  • OCAP v1.0 - corresponds to MHP v1.0 (current version: v1.0.3)
  • OCAP v2.0 - corresponds to MHP v1.1 (current version: v1.1.2)

(As of April 2005)

Similarities with MHP

The MHP is the first of a larger family of standards used worldwide. The first offshoot of the MHP was a variant for the American cable networks, the so-called OCAP (Open Cable Application Platform). OCAP replaces some MHP APIs , which are only required in DVB networks, for example, with replacement solutions. In the course of the development of OCAP, the idea arose to define a DVB standard that describes a common subset of OCAP and MHP and is also suitable for other variants. Such a common subset describes the GEM standard (Globally Executable MHP), which is intended to promote the worldwide dissemination of the MHP. The following standards based on GEM currently exist:

  • MHP, as a software platform in DVB networks,
  • OCAP, as the platform for (American) cable networks,
  • ACAP , a platform for the American terrestrial television networks,
  • ARIB B.23 , a variant for the Japanese television networks ( ARIB ) and
  • BD-J , the variant for the Blu-ray Disc that does not require radio support.

Because all systems are based on GEM, it is possible to develop applications with little effort that can run on all of these systems. Only when special functions, which are only available in individual versions, are to be used, for example for an EPG application, do appropriate adjustments have to be made.

Future developments of the MHP or GEM standard will also be developed in the following areas:

  • the support of the functionality of hard disk recorders (PVR),
  • multimedia home networking,
  • the support of interactive HDTV formats,
  • interactive services via broadband IP connections (e.g. via DSL or the digital cable network) and
  • an abstract, XML-based application description (PCF, Portable Content Format)

See also

Web links