IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO.

2, JUNE 2009 329

Functional Architecture for NGN-Based
Personalized IPTV Services
Gyu Myoung Lee, Member, IEEE, Chae Sub Lee, Woo Seop Rhee, Member, IEEE, and
Jun Kyun Choi, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractIPTV is one of the most highly visible services to
emerge as part of the development of next generation network
(NGN). IPTV services over manageable broadband link from
a provider will be one of the ultimate goals of the broadband
revolution using NGN. In this paper, we analyze IPTV archi-
tecture developed by ITU-T and provide functional architecture
for NGN-based IPTV services according to functional mapping
between IPTV and NGN. For this, we provide the detailed func-
tional architecture and relevant operations with other functional
blocks and present the harmonized architecture between IPTV
and NGN for NGN-based IPTV services with the alignment with
existing NGN architecture. As challenging architectural issues, we
also introduce personalized IPTV services based on Web-based
open platform in NGN environment and illustrate functional
architecture and service examples for Web-based personalized
IPTV services.
Index TermsFunctional architecture, IPTV, NGN.
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HE concept of next generation network (NGN) [1] in In-
ternational Telecommunication Union Telecommunica-
tion Standardization Sector (ITU-T) takes into consideration
telecommunication industry needs such as convergence of ser-
vices, optimization of the operating networks, and the extraor-
dinary expansion of digital trafc toward multimedia services.
From NGN point of view, IPTV is dened as multimedia ser-
vices over broadband IP-based networks, managed to support
the required level of quality of service (QoS)/ quality of experi-
ence (QoE), security, interactivity and reliability, etc [2], [3]. It
means that NGN should be the best tool supporting the reliable
and secure delivery of multimedia contents including video,
Manuscript received May 01, 2008; revised October 30, 2008. First published
May 05, 2009; current version published May 22, 2009. This work was partly
supported by the IT R&D program of MKE/IITA [2008-F015-02, Research on
Ubiquitous Mobility Management Methods for Higher Service Availability, and
A1100-0801-3015, Development of Open-IPTV Technologies for Wired and
Wireless Networks].
G. M. Lee is with the Institut TELECOM SudParis, 91011 Evry, France, on
leave from the Information and Communications University, Yuseong-gu, Dae-
jeon 305732, Republic of Korea (e-mail: gm.lee@it-sudparis.eu).
C. S. Lee is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute,
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305700, Republic of Korea (e-mail: chae-sub.lee@ties.
itu.int).
W. S. Rhee is with the Hanbat National University, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon
305719, Republic of Korea (e-mail: wsrhee@hanbat.ac.kr).
J. K. Choi is with the Information and Communications University,
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305732, Republic of Korea (e-mail: jkchoi@icu.ac.kr).
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TBC.2009.2020450
which is a very crucial issue for IPTV services. As the IPTV
service requires not only the broadband multimedia streaming
but also the security and reliability with a certain level of quality,
there are certain limitations to support those capabilities in cur-
rent best effort based IP network such as the Internet. Therefore,
NGN with adjustment for IPTV characteristics would be a suit-
able way to provide new emerging services over heterogeneous
networking environment. In this sense, IPTV will have the prin-
cipal role of accelerating deployment and business of NGN.
ITU-T Study Group (SG) 13 [4] has been developing Recom-
mendations on NGN from standardization point of view. Iden-
tifying additional requirements and functions for relevant capa-
bilities of IPTV services are key study items of NGN release
2 [5] development in SG 13. IPTV study in ITU-T was ini-
tiated by the Focus Group (FG) on IPTV (FG-IPTV) which
produced 19 deliverables [6] on IPTV, widely covered most
of important subject areas and handed over to the appropriate
study groups via SG 13 for the development of Recommenda-
tions. The ongoing work has been carried out under the umbrella
of IPTV-global standards initiative (GSI) [7]. IPTV-GSI is the
center for the speedy preparation of standards based on docu-
ments produced by FG-IPTV.
Similar with ITU-T, the European Telecommunication
Standards Institute (ETSI) Telecoms and Internet Converged
Services and Protocols for Advanced Networks (TISPAN) has
developed several specications for IPTV in NGN release 2 [8],
[9]. The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
(ATIS) IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF) and Open IPTV
Forum also produced relevant specications [10][13] on IPTV
architecture. The above standardization bodies are commonly
considering the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) [14] as a
key platform for IPTV [15], [16]. Cable operators have also
considered standards for providing IP services over cable [17].
IPTV services over manageable broadband link from a
provider will be the ultimate goal of the broadband revolution
using NGN. So, we focus on NGN-based IPTV services and its
architectural aspects. For this, we analyze IPTV architectures
[18] developed by ITU-T and provide functional architecture
for NGN-based IPTV services according to functional mapping
between IPTV and NGN. We introduce the detailed functional
architecture of IPTV harmonized with NGN and relevant oper-
ations with functional blocks based on FG-IPTV deliverables
of ITU-T.
Taking into consideration continuous evolution of services
and user requirements, Personalized IPTV Services [19] en-
able users to access and consume what they want, when and
where they want in a personalized way. These will be the key
solutions for value-added services over IP based network using
0018-9316/$25.00 2009 IEEE

330 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
rich contents and emergence of Web 2.0, providing open plat-
form and new business model for IPTV services in the near
future. Therefore, as a conclusion, we introduce personalized
IPTV services using Web-based open platform [20], [21] over
NGN environment with corresponding functional architecture.
The intention of introducing this functional architecture is to
discuss the challenges to the development of viable and feasible
networking platform model for IPTV services.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In
Section II, we explain concepts and architectural considerations
of NGN and IPTV services based on ITU-T recommendations
and deliverables, and discuss impact of NGN on IPTV services.
Then, in Section III, we describe the detailed functional archi-
tecture for IPTV services. We compare functional architecture
between IPTV and NGN and present an NGN-based IPTV
architecture in alignment with NGN in Section IV. Finally,
in Section V, we introduce personalized IPTV services over
NGN and illustrate functional architecture of Web-based open
platform and service examples.
II. NGN AND IPTV SERVICES IN ITU-T
A. The Concept and Architecture of NGN
ITU-T denes the NGN as a packet-based network able
to provide telecommunication services and able to make use
of multiple broadband, QoS-enabled transport technologies,
in which service-related functions are independent from un-
derlying transport-related technologies. It enables unfettered
access for users to networks, competing service providers
and/or services of their choice. It supports generalized mobility
which will allowconsistent and ubiquitous provision of services
to users [1].
The NGN functional architecture shall incorporate the fol-
lowing principles [22]:
Support for multiple access technologies: The NGN
functional architecture shall offer the conguration exi-
bility needed to support multiple access technologies.
Distributed control: This will enable adaptation to the
distributed processing nature of packet-based networks
and support location transparency for distributed com-
puting.
Open control: The network control interface should be
open to support service creation, service updating, and in-
corporation of service logic provision by third parties.
Independent service provisioning: The service pro-
visioning process should be separated from transport
network operation by using the above-mentioned dis-
tributed, open control mechanism.
Support for services in a converged network: This is
needed to generate exible and easy-to-use multimedia
services, by tapping the technical potential of the con-
verged, xed/mobile functional architecture of the NGN.
Enhanced security and protection: This is the basic prin-
ciple of an open architecture. It is imperative to protect the
network infrastructure by providing mechanisms for secu-
rity and survivability in the relevant layers.
Functional entity characteristics: Functional entities
should incorporate the following principles:
Functional entities may not be distributed over multiple
physical units but may have multiple instances.
Functional entities have no direct relationship with the
layered architecture. However, similar entities may be
located in different logical layers.
Along with new architectural principles the NGN will bring
an additional level of complexity beyond that of existing net-
works. In particular, support for multiple access technologies
and mobility results in the need to support a wide variety of net-
work congurations.
The NGN architecture supports the delivery of services iden-
tied in the NGN release 1 scope [23], as well as the require-
ments identied in the NGN release 1 [24]. NGN provides mul-
timedia services including conversational services, and content
delivery services, such as video streaming and broadcasting.
Fig. 1 shows an overview of the NGN functional architecture
that divides into service stratum functions and transport stratum
functions according to [25].
Several functions in both the service stratum and the trans-
port stratum are needed to support various NGN services, as il-
lustrated in Fig. 1. The delivery of services/applications to the
end-user is provided by utilizing the application support func-
tions and service support functions, and related control func-
tions. The NGN supports a reference point to the applications
functional group called application network interface (ANI),
which provides a channel for interactions and exchanges be-
tween applications and NGN. The ANI offers capabilities and
resources needed for the realization of applications. The trans-
port stratum provides IP connectivity services to NGN users
under the control of transport control functions, including net-
work attachment control functions (NACFs) [26] and resource
admission and control functions (RACFs) [27].
Currently, NGN release 2 [5] featuring mobility and
streaming capabilities is being developed. NGN release 2
identies IPTV as one of service components and incorporates
additional requirements and functional capabilities for IPTV.
B. Overview of IPTV Services
In order to introduce IPTVservices, we explain content value
chain, domain model and several types of IPTV services.
1) IPTV Content Value Chain: When considering the life
cycle of contents, the value chain should be the most important
fundamental framework for identifying IPTV services. Top part
of Fig. 2 shows an IPTV Content Value Chain Model taking
into consideration broadcast services and on-demand services
[13]:
Content Production: producing and editing the actual
content (movies, drama series, sports events, news reports
etc.)
Content Aggregation: bundling content into catalogue of-
fers and bouquets, ready for delivery.
Content Delivery: transporting the aggregated contents to
the consumer.

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 331
Fig. 1. NGN architecture overview (illustration from [22]).
Fig. 2. Content value chain and IPTV domains.
1
Content Reconstitution: converting the content into a
format suitable for rendering on the end-user device(s).
Each role in the value chain has historically been bound to
a type of stakeholder or technical component. Content Produc-
tion, for example, is linked to production rms and to the pro-
duction teams of TV stations.
2) Domain Model for IPTV Services: Fig. 2 shows the do-
main and content value chains that are involved in the provi-
sioning of IPTV services. Four domains of IPTV service provi-
sioning are dened as follows [10], [11], [18]:
1
Although considered as two separate entities, the Service Provider and the
Network Provider may in fact be one organizational entity.
Content Provider: The entity that owns or is licensed to
sell content or content assets.
Service Provider: A general reference to an operator that
provides telecommunication services to customers and
other users either on a tariff or contract basis. A service
provider can optionally operate a network. A service
provider can optionally be a customer of another service
provider.
Network Provider: The organization that maintains and
operates the network components required for IPTV func-
tionality. Anetwork provider can optionally also act as ser-
vice provider.

332 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
Fig. 3. NGN for supporting IPTV services.
End-user: The actual user of the products or services. An
end-user can optionally be a subscriber.
There are several reference points (RPs) between logical do-
mains [12], [13], [18]:
RP 1: logical reference point between end-user and net-
work provider (user to network RP).
RP 2: logical reference point between network provider
and service provider (transport and control RP).
RP 3: logical reference point between service provider and
content provider (content provider RP).
RP 4: logical reference point between end user and service
provider (service platform RP).
RP 5: logical reference point between network provider
and content provider (out of scope).
RP 6: logical reference point between end-user and content
provider. A direct logical information ow may be set up
for rights management, protection, etc.
3) Several Types of IPTV Services: IPTV services are clas-
sied as the follows [28]:
Broadcast type services (linear TV): comprise a one-way
transmission of content from one point (the source) to two
or more points (the receivers), whereas the end-user has
no control over the content or timing of what he receives,
apart from the ability to select a particular channel.
On-demand type service: is content prepared and deliv-
ered by the content provider for retrieval, which is received
and stored by the service provider. If necessary, trans-
coding can be performed to accommodate the storage de-
vice characteristics. The end-user can then select and re-
trieve such contents from this storage at any time, ac-
cording to the constraints provided by the content protec-
tion metadata.
Other type services: include advertising service, public
interest service, tele-services, portal services, hosting ser-
vices, IPTV interactive service, presence services, time-
shifting and place-shifting service, session mobility ser-
vice, supplementary content, etc.
C. Impact of NGN for IPTV Services
ITU-T has developed three IPTV architectures that enable
service providers to deliver IPTV services [18]:
Non-NGN IPTV functional Architecture (Non-NGN
IPTV): The Non-NGN IPTV architecture is based on ex-
isting network components and protocols/interfaces. This
approach is a representation of typical existing networks
providing IPTV services.
NGN-based non-IMS IPTV Functional Architecture
(NGN-Non-IMS IPTV): The NGN Non-IMS IPTV ar-
chitecture utilizes components of the NGN framework
reference architecture as identied in [22] to support the
provision of IPTV services, in conjunction with other
NGN services if required.
NGNIMS-based IPTVFunctional Architecture (NGN-
IMS-IPTV): The NGN-IMS based IPTV architecture uti-
lizes components of the NGN architecture including the
IMS component to support the provision of IPTVservices,
in conjunction with other IMS services if required. Key
benets of using this architecture are as follows [29]:
Access-independent service delivery of a centralized
subscriber database
Open interfaces to application servers
Per-session dynamic QoS for an optimized QoE
Multimedia communications supporting other services
(e.g., quad-play services).
In this paper, we focus on IPTV services from the NGN per-
spective including IMS component. Specically, NGN can pro-
vide enhanced capabilities for managing IP and broadband ser-
vices regardless of xed or wireless environment, which is cru-
cial for support of xed mobile convergence (FMC) as shown
in Fig. 3. NGN can facilitate the interworking with legacy net-
works (e.g., IPv4/IPv6, mobile/wireless, broadcasting, PSTN,
etc) and accommodate various kinds of end-user devices (e.g.,
TV, personal computer (PC), phone, and wireless device in-
cluding IPTV set-top box (STB)).
Most of service providers consider IPTV as a key gate to the
triple-play service businesses (including voice, video, and data
service) using rich contents; TV programs from broadcasting
sources, On-demand video storage and user created video, etc.
Acombination of voice, data and video services over broadband
links and from a provider is seen as the ultimate goal of the
broadband revolution. Therefore, NGN adjustment with IPTV
characteristics is a suitable way for supporting new emerging

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 333
Fig. 4. IPTV architectural overview.
2
(illustration from [18]).
services over heterogeneous networking environment. We ex-
pect that IPTV will have the principal role in accelerating both
deployment and business of NGN.
III. FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR IPTV SERVICES
A. Overall Functional Architecture for IPTV
In this section, we introduce IPTV architectures based on
[18]. To design functional architecture for IPTV, we consider the
principal functional groups for IPTV. These functional groups
provide a more detailed breakdown of the IPTV domains that
are discussed in Section II. The functional groups in the archi-
tecture are derived by grouping related functions.
Fig. 4 shows an overview of the IPTV functional architec-
ture. The following points give a description of each functional
group. The related functions in each functional group are further
decomposed as shown in Fig. 5.
End-User Functions: perform mediation between the
end-user and the IPTV infrastructure.
Application Functions: enable the End-User Functions to
select and purchase or rent a content item.
Service Control Functions: provide the functions to re-
quest and release network and service resources required
to support the IPTV services.
Content Delivery Functions: receive content from the
Application Functions, store, process, and deliver it to the
End-User Functions using the capabilities of the Network
Functions, under control of the Service Control Functions.
Network Functions: provide IP layer connectivity be-
tween the IPTV service components and the End-User
functions.
Management Functions: perform overall system man-
agement (i.e., operations, administration, maintenance and
provisioning (OAM&P)).
Content Provider Functions: provided by the entity that
owns or is licensed to provide content or content assets.
B. End-User Functions
1) IPTV Terminal Functions (ITF): The ITF are responsible
for collecting control commands from the end-user, and inter-
acting with the Application Functions to obtain service infor-
mation (e.g., electronic programguide (EPG)), content licenses,
and keys for decryption. They interact with the Content Delivery
Functions to receive the IPTV services. They also provide the
capability for content reception, decryption, and decoding.
2
The rectangular blocks represent functional blocks in the IPTV architec-
ture. The rounded rectangular areas represent the particular grouping of func-
tions. The solid lines represent direct relationships between either Functions
or Functional Blocks. The dotted lines represent logical associations between
End-User Functions and either Functions or Functional Blocks located outside
the End-User Functions.

334 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
Fig. 5. Detailed IPTV functional architecture (illustration from [18]).
Application Client Functions: exchange information
with the Application Functions to support IPTV and other
interactive applications.
Service and application discovery & selection client
functional block
On-demand client functional block
Linear TV client functional block
Other client functional blocks
Service and Content Protection (SCP) Client
Functions: interact with SCP functions to provide service
protection and content protection and veries the usage
rights and decrypts and optionally watermark the content.
Content protection client functional block
Service protection client functional block
Content Delivery Client Functions: receive and control
the delivery of the content from the Content Delivery and
Storage Functions. After receiving the content, the Con-
tent Delivery Client Functions can optionally use the SCP
Client Functions to decrypt and decode the content, and
can also optionally support playback control.
Multicast content delivery client functional block
Unicast content delivery client functional block
Error recovery client functional block (option)
Control Client Functional Block: allows the ITF to ini-
tiate service requests to IPTV Service Control Functional
Block, in order to prepare for the connection to the Con-
tent Delivery Functions.

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 335
2) Home Network Functions (HNF): The HNF provide the
connectivity between the external network and each IPTV ter-
minal device. All data, content, and control trafc must pass
through the Home Network Functions in order to enter or exit
the end-users IPTV terminal device.
Delivery Network Gateway Functional Block: provides
IP connectivity between the external network and the IPTV
terminal device. It manages the IP connectivity, obtains
IP addresses and congurations for the HNF and IPTV
terminal devices.
C. Application Functions
1) IPTV Application Functions (IAF): The IAF enable the
IPTV Terminal Functions to select and purchase, if necessary,
content.
Service and application discovery & selection functional
block
Linear TV application functional block
On-demand application functional block
Other application functional blocks
Application Prole Functional Block: stores the proles for
the IPTV applications. The proles can optionally include end-
user setting, global setting (e.g., language preference), linear
TV setting, video on demand (VoD) settings, personal video
recorder settings and IPTV service actions data, etc.
Content Preparation Functions: control the preparation and
aggregation of the contents such as VoD programs, TV channel
streams, metadata, and EPG data, as received from the content
provider functions.
Content management functional block
Metadata processing functional block
Content processing control functional block
Content pre-processing functional block
Service & Content Protection (SCP) Functions: controls the
protection of the services and content.
Content protection functional block for control of access
to contents
Service protection functional block for authentication and
authorization of access to services
Application Provisioning Functional Block: adds or with-
draws applications and manages the life-cycle of IPTV
applications.
D. Service Control Functions
IPTV Service Control Functional Block: provides the func-
tions to handle service initiation, modication and termination
requests, perform service access control, establish and maintain
the network and system resources required to support the IPTV
services requested by the ITF.
Provides registration, authentication and authorization
functions for the End-User Functions.
Processes requests from IAF and forwards them to the
Content Delivery Functions in order that the Content De-
livery Functions select the most appropriate Content De-
livery & Storage Functions, for delivering content to the
End-User Functions.
Requests the Content Delivery Functions or Application
Functions to collect charging information.
Service User Prole Functional Block: used for storing ser-
vice proles and generating responses to queries for service pro-
les.
E. Content Delivery Functions
The Content Delivery Functions receive perform cache and
storage functionalities and deliver the content according to the
request from the End-User Functions. The content delivery
functions can optionally process the content.
Content Distribution & Location Control Functions
(CD&LCF): control the Content Delivery & Storage Functions
to optimize content distribution, selection and deliver content
to the ITF.
Distribution control functional block
Location control functional block
Content Delivery & Storage Functions (CD&SF): store and
cache the content process it under the control of Content Prepa-
ration Functions and distribute it among instances of Content
Delivery & Storage Functions based on the policy of Content
Distribution & Location Control Functions.
Content delivery control functional block
Cache & storage functional block
Distribution functional block
Error recovery functional block (option)
Content processing functional block
Unicast delivery functional block
Multicast delivery functional block
F. Network Functions
The Network Functions are shared across all services deliv-
ered by IP to the End-User Functions. They provide the IP layer
connectivity in order to support IPTV services.
Authentication & IP Allocation Functional Block: pro-
vides the functionality to authenticate the Delivery Net-
work Gateway Functional Block, which connects to the
Network Functions, as well as allocation of IP address to
the Delivery Network Gateway Functional Block and op-
tionally to the IPTV Terminal Functions.
Resource Control Functional Block: provides control of
the resources, which have been allocated for the delivery
of the IPTV services through the Access Network, Edge
and Core Transport Functions.
Access Network Functions: (1) aggregating and for-
warding the IPTV trafc sent by the End-User Functions
into the edge of the core network and (2) forwarding the
IPTV trafc from the edge of the core network towards
the End-User Functions.
Edge Functions: forwarding the IPTV trafc aggregated
by the Access Network Functions towards the core net-
work, and also to forward the IPTV trafc from the core
network to the End-User Functions.
Core Transport Functions: forwarding IPTV trafc
throughout the core network.
Multicast Transport Functions
Multicast control point functional block for the selection
of the individual multicast streams (McCPF)
Multicast replication functional block for replicating
multicast stream (McRF)

336 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
Unicast Transport Functions: the transport of unicast
content streams from the Unicast Delivery Functional
Block to the End-User Functions.
G. Management Functions
The Management Functions handle overall system status
monitoring and conguration. This set of functions can option-
ally be deployed in a centralized or a distributed manner.
Application management functional block
Content delivery management functional block
Service control management functional block
End user device management functional block
Transport management functional block
H. Content Provider Functions
The Content Provider Functions provide many different types
of sources to the Content Preparation Functions. The physical
interfaces and content formats can optionally be different de-
pending on the type of the sources. It can optionally include
functions for access control based on rating of the content.
Content Protection Metadata Sources: the usage rules
and rights for protected IPTV content.
Metadata Sources: an entity that provides content
provider metadata associated with the IPTV content.
Content Sources: an entity that provides IPTV content.
I. Physical Conguration for Protocol Operation
According to decomposition of each functional group, Fig. 5
shows detailed IPTV functional architecture. The IPTV archi-
tecture needs to allow for IPTV network, service and applica-
tion components to exist at different physical and logical points
in a network. The specied protocols are operating with align-
ment of physical conguration and functional modules in IPTV
architecture.
Content provider has content sources and service provider
has streaming server and transaction servers. Transaction
servers of the service provider are composed of servers for
digital rights management (DRM), customer relationship
management (CRM), billing, prole management, identity
management, web or IPTV portal, etc.
In network provider domain, IPTV functional elements can
be mapped into a physical network hierarchy specically for
linear TV. There are three types of network nodes [17], [18],
[30];
Super Head End (SHE)the locations for acquisition
and aggregation of region-independent (national-level)
linear/broadcast TV programming. SHEs are also the
central points for on-demand content insertion.
Video Hub Ofce (VHO)the video distribution points
within a demographic market area. National content is re-
ceived from each SHE. Local content is acquired and en-
coded. Insertion of local content is also performed in the
VHO. IPTV services are provided from the VHO via the
aggregation/access network.
Video Serving Ofce (VSO)the VSO (typically a Cen-
tral Ofce) hosts or connects all access systems for inter-
connection to consumers. In addition, the VSO contains
Fig. 6. Functional mapping between IPTV and NGN architecture.
aggregation equipment to enable efcient and reliable in-
terconnection to the VHO.
The access network functions must be located between the
video serving ofce (VSO) and end-user, the IP multicast
replication functions can also be optionally located in the VSO.
Various access networks may provide passive optical network
(PON), wireless, and Ethernet interfaces for delivery of IPTV
content to the residential subscriber.
The end user comprises the IPTV terminal and delivery net-
work gateway (DNG)/STB. DNG provides trafc management
and routing between the access network and the home network.
IV. NGN-BASED IPTV ARCHITECTURE
A. Comparison of Functional Architecture Between IPTV
and NGN
It is useful to relate the IPTV architecture to the general
NGN framework architecture and other networks to clarify the
similarities and differences, as well as provide a reference for
the more detailed description of IPTV specic components.
The NGN-based architecture means the IPTV architecture
in accordance with [22] for providing IPTV services. There-
fore, functionalities for IPTV services have a correspondence
relationship with the NGN architecture. The NGN components
described in [22] were shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 shows functional mapping between IPTV and NGN ar-
chitectures according to the relationships between the functions
of these two architectures:
Application Functions may be included in Application
Support Functions & Service Support Functions of NGN
Service Control Functions may be included in the Service
Control Functions (i.e., IPTV service component) of NGN
Content Delivery Functions may interact with both Service
Stratum and Transport Stratum of NGN
Network Functions may be included in Transport Stratum
of NGN

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 337
Fig. 7. IPTV functional architecture in alignment with NGN
3
(illustration from [18]).
End-User Functions may be included in End-User Func-
tions of NGN
Management Functions may be included in Management
Functions of NGN
Content Provider Functions may reside outside the NGN
Content Delivery Functions may reside outside the NGN
in cases like a 3rd party service provider.
Application Functions may reside outside the NGN in
cases like a 3rd party service provider.
IPTV Service Control Functional Block corresponds to
NGN Service Control Functions. However, NGN Service
Control Functions may include other functionalities.
B. Harmonized Architecture Between IPTV and NGN
Based on the functional mapping between NGN and IPTV
functions (see Fig. 6), we show the IPTV functional architec-
ture in alignment with NGN in Fig. 7. It presents the functional
architecture for NGN-based IPTV services.
The NGN-based IPTV architecture is based on the NGN ar-
chitecture dened in [22] and uses the components and func-
tions of the NGN. The non-NGN-based IPTV architecture does
not necessarily require these components and functions and uses
conventional and/or legacy network technologies for the de-
livery of IPTVservices. The main differences are the following:
3
There are two NGN-based IPTV architectures; NGN-IMS-IPTV and NGN-
non-IMS-IPTV. This diagram represents NGN-IMS-based IPTV architecture.
The NGN-based IPTV architecture uses NACF to provide
functions such as authentication and IP conguration.
The NGN-based IPTV architecture uses RACF to provide
resource and admission control functions.
The NGN-based IPTV architecture uses Service Control
Functions dened in [22] to provide service control func-
tions.
The NGN-IMS-based IPTV architecture (see Fig. 7) uses
Core IMS Functions such as IPTV Service Control Functional
Block and associated functions such as Service User Prole
Functional Block dened in [31] to provide service control
functions. The core IMS Functions offer a session control
mechanism, and provide functions for authentication and au-
thorization of IPTV Terminal Functions based on user prole,
as well as functions for the interaction with RACF for resource
reservation. The core IMS Functions also provide interaction
between IPTV Terminal Functions, IPTV Application Func-
tions and Content Delivery Functions. The core IMS Functions
can be used for Service Discovery. Functions such as charging
and roaming can also be supported by IMS mechanisms.
The NGN-non-IMS-based IPTV architecture uses Service
Control Functions other than core IMS Functions to provide
service control functions.
The key advantages of NGN-based IPTV architecture are
to realize personalized value-added services and use more
efciently network resources using tight integration with NGN
functionalities such as NACF, RACF and IMS, etc.

338 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
Fig. 8. Procedural ows for Linear TV and VoD services in NGN-IMS-IPTV architecture.
C. Procedural Flows for IPTV Services
This section provides detailed descriptions of the procedural
ows for linear TV and VoD services in NGN-IMS-IPTV archi-
tecture as shown in Fig. 8 [18].
First, the ITF acquire service parameters which include the
content identier, logical uniform resource locator (URL),
bandwidth, codec information for VoD, and a logical channel
identier for linear TV. Then, the ITF initiate a service request
to the core IMS functions. The core IMS functions optionally
determine the location of the ITF, for example by querying the
NACF.
Next, for linear TV services, the core IMS functions forward
the request to the Linear TV application with ITF location and
logical channel identier(s). The linear TV application passes
the ITF location and the logical channel identier(s) to the con-
tent delivery control function. The content delivery control func-
tion determines the multicast addresses and which CD&SF uses
to output the required channels and has multicast network paths
to the IPTV terminal based on the association between logical
channel identiers and multicast addresses. It returns the corre-
sponding multicast addresses to the linear TV application. The
linear TV application returns the multicast network parameters
to the core IMS.
For VoD services, the core IMS functions send a network re-
source request to the RACF. The RACF performs network re-
source reservation and sends the response to the core IMS func-
tions. The core IMS functions send the service request with

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 339
content identier, logical URL to the on-demand IPTV appli-
cation functional block. The on-demand application functional
block performs service authorization. The on-demand IPTV ap-
plication functional block sends the request to the CD&LCF via
core IMS functions in order to select the CD&SF. The core IMS
Functions forward the request to the CD&LCF. The CD&LCF
selects a suitable CD&SF based on some criteria (e.g., the state
of the CD&SFs and the knowledge of distributed content among
the CD&SF etc). The CD&LCF resolves the logical URL of
content into the physical URL of an allocated CD&SF, and re-
sponds the URL of selected CD&SF to on-demand application
functional block via core IMS functions. The core IMS func-
tions forward the response to the on-demand application func-
tional block. The on-demand application functional block sends
the content resource request to the selected CD&SF via core
IMS functions in order to allocate content resources. The core
IMS functions forward the content resource request to the se-
lected CD&SF. The CD&SF performs content resource alloca-
tion and sends the response to the core IMS functions. The core
IMS functions forward the response to the on-demand appli-
cation functional block. The on-demand application functional
block sends the service response to the core IMS functions.
After that, the core IMS functions send a network resource
request to the RACF. The RACF performs network resource
allocation and sends the response to the core IMS functions. The
core IMS functions send the service response to the ITF.
Finally, for linear TVservices, the ITF receives a list of one or
more logical channels and their multicast addresses and main-
tains this mapping for the duration of the multicast session. After
that, the ITF initiate channel control request by initialing a mul-
ticast join request and receives the multicast stream. When the
user exits the linear TV application (i.e., they stop watching
TV), the ITF will request the session be ended and will release
any requested resources. For VoD services, the ITF connect to
the identied CD&SF to receive the content.
V. CHALLENGING ISSUES FOR NGN-BASED IPTV SERVICES
A. Personalized IPTV Services
The challenge to a successful IPTV service lies not only in
the underlying transport networks but also in the need for ser-
vice applications and their platforms to adapt to new business
models, and changing service trends and environments. IPTV
service is growing the number of service providers, users, and
content, while enlarging its area of services at the same time.
The potential of a growing quantity of IPTV services will re-
sult in enormous expansion of options for users. Under these
circumstances, spotting what the user may like or want to enjoy
becomes a key factor for successful IPTVservice. Moreover, the
personalization of service allows providing more value added
services, which will make the IPTV service worthwhile. The
IPTV services will adopt more Internet and telecommunication
capabilities in step with the rapidly developing service environ-
ment. Newbusiness models will require open, exible, and agile
platform such as Web or its more advance form, Web 2.0.
From the future trend in the end-users perspective, the
value will be transferred from access service of traditional
Fig. 9. Personalized IPTV services using Web-based open platform.
telecom providers to content-based services such as IPTV. The
key factor underpinning the success of all end-user-oriented
services lies in the degree of users awareness. Personalized
services are identied as tailor-made to the users needs for
delivering appropriate content and services. These services are
to improve the users experience and satisfaction. In addition, as
devices evolve, the real benets of IPTV using a multi-terminal
(including multiple functions such as camera, video recorder,
phone, TV, music player, etc) are in the merging of entertain-
ment and communications, the integration of telephone features
into television experience, and the mobility of video services
that follow the user anywhere, anytime.
Accordingly, personalized IPTV services will permit for
users to access and consume what they want, when and where
they want in a personalized way on local and/or remote personal
storage systems from both broadcast and online services. These
services are targeting and customizing content for individual
users based on the followings: user preferences, features of user
devices and/or access networks and natural environments such
as mood, location, time, etc.
Unlike the legacy Web world, where users were passive ob-
servers of Web site content, the advanced web world such as
Web 2.0 is providing dynamicity and interactivity in near real
time to the users. The emphasis of Web 2.0 is not on creating re-
tail community-type services of its own but on building an open
platform through which third-party application developers can
access and launch their own services. The open platform gen-
erates extra prots through extended management and the cre-
ation and deployment of value-added services while fully sup-
porting new service requirements. Using interactive, collabora-
tive and customizable features Web 2.0 can provide rich user
experiences/interfaces and new business opportunities for IPTV
services. Fromstandards point of view, IMS-based NGNwill be
a key platform for service control capabilities in IPTV.
We expect that a new service platform, which combines
web-based open structure using Web and IMS-based NGN as
shown in the Fig. 9, will provide Personalized IPTV Services
as one of new business models for service providers/network
providers. The illustrated service platform creates new business
for IPTV services with new features. The web-based IPTV is
a platform that allows an organization to integrate its business
information, applications, and services into a web-based IPTV
portal beneting from easy navigation and access.

340 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BROADCASTING, VOL. 55, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
Fig. 10. Example of functional architecture for Web-based open IPTV platform.
Fig. 11. Service examples of personalized IPTV using intelligent multimedia, Web and personalized networking technologies.
B. Web-Based Open Platform for IPTV Services
For the emerging personalized IPTV services, we provide an
example of functional architecture for web-based open IPTV
platform in NGN as shown in Fig. 10. The illustrated IPTV ar-
chitecture consists of the following functional components:
Contents: The contents are classied into digital broad-
casting, online content and stored content in digital video
discs (DVDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs), etc. The con-
tent domain requires functionality, which receives video
content from producers and other sources. Afterward,
these contents are encoded and stored in an acquisition
database for VoD, etc.
Head-end: The head-end domain requires a function-
ality which receives video streams in different formats.
These video streams in different formats are then refor-
matted and encapsulated for transmission with appropriate
QoS indications to the network through content prepara-
tion. This makes themready for delivery to end-users using
service delivery management. In addition, to support per-
sonalized IPTV services, web-based service operation and
personalization functions are very critical.

LEE et al.: FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE FOR NGN-BASED PERSONALIZED IPTV SERVICES 341
Network: The IMS-based NGN of the network domain
can support transport functions, and service and transport
control functions. Specically, it supports delivery capa-
bilities, such as multicast, which is necessary for the reli-
able and timely distribution of IPTV data streams from the
service nodes to the end-user. Moreover, the core and ac-
cess network of NGN cover the optical distribution back-
bone network for high capacity and the various digital sub-
scriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs).
End-user: The device of the end-user performs func-
tional processing through web-based client, service usage
monitoring, and content decoder. The functional pro-
cessing includes setting up the connection and QoS with
the service node, decoding the video streams, channel
change functionality, user display control and connections
to user appliances such as a standard denition television
(SDTV) or a high denition television (HDTV) monitor
using Web. The end-user also has a network interface
which terminates the IPTV trafc at the home network.
C. Service Examples of Personalized IPTV
In order to provide personalized IPTV services using pro-
posed web-based open IPTV platform, intelligent multimedia,
Web and personalized networking technologies should be
tightly interacted with several functions which are illustrated in
Fig. 10. In particular emerging Web technologies which include
ontology, semantic, mash-up, and community functions, etc
can be key enablers of personalized IPTV services. Here we
introduce service examples of personalized IPTV from the
viewpoint of customer (e.g., smart client) as an end user as
shown in Fig. 11 [32], [33].
The personal IPTV broadcast services provide a customer
with a way to advertise personal contents so that other customers
can access such contents. These services make the IPTV cus-
tomer into a content provider. The service provider is respon-
sible for relaying session information between the broadcasting
customer and the receiving customers, possibly assuming some
access control functions so as to ensure that a given customer is
entitled to broadcast his/her personal contents.
The development and provisioning of IPTV services through
the use of portal sites will increase. Portal services are branded
aggregation of products and services designed to satisfy a large
majority of customers needs, such as VoD, shopping, banking,
communication, entertainment and other interactive services
with a portal menu. The portal services can target customers
by broadcasting commercials, advertisements and interactive
responsible advertising. Portal services may provide walled
garden access and/or direct Internet access.
The IPTV portal services basically operate in a similar
manner to a web service on the Internet and take advantage
of the TV screen in the same way as data broadcasts in digital
broadcasting, and control functions related to IPTV services.
These services support hyperlink functions for linking to other
parts of the same portal site or to other portal sites.
Consequently, Web-based open IPTV can provide commu-
nity-based content navigation/ranking, personalized content
creation and customized content provisioning with collective
intelligence to customers.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we reviewed the basic concept and architecture
models of IPTV in relation with NGN. We explained the im-
pact of NGN on IPTV services emphasizing that NGN can pro-
vide IPTV services more efciently through managed IP and
convergence broadband capabilities. Then, we have analyzed
IPTV architecture developed by ITU-T and provided functional
architecture for NGN-based IPTV services according to func-
tional mapping between IPTV and NGN functions. For this, we
showed the detailed functional architecture and relevant opera-
tions with functional blocks and presented the harmonized ar-
chitecture between IPTV and NGN for NGN-based IPTV ser-
vices. As a conclusion, taking into consideration all this and
the emergence of advanced user requirements, we introduced a
personalized IPTV service concept combining Web-based open
platform with NGN environment and illustrated functional ar-
chitecture for Web-based personalized IPTV services and ser-
vice examples.
We believe that the web-based open IPTV platform is a chal-
lenging architectural issue. Personalized IPTVservices will be a
key solution for value-added services over NGN, and the emer-
gence of Web 2.0 will provide an open platform and a new busi-
ness model for IPTV services in the near future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Dr. Daniel Genin from National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for reviewing and
providing many helpful comments which have improved the
quality of this paper.
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Gyu Myoung Lee (M02) received B.S. degree in
electronic and electrical engineering from Hong Ik
University, Seoul, Korea, in 1999 and M.S., and
Ph.D. degree in school of engineering from Infor-
mation Communications University (ICU), Daejeon,
Korea, in 2000 and 2007, respectively.
He is currently with Institut TELECOM SudParis
as a research fellow, specializing in IPTV networks
and standards development. Since 2007 he has been
working as a research professor in ICU, Korea and as
an invited researcher in Electronics and Telecommu-
nications Research Institute, Korea. He worked as a guest researcher in National
Institute of Standards and Technology, USA, in 2007 and as a visiting researcher
in the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2002. His research interests include
ubiquitous networking and IPTV services for NGN, IPv6 protocols, and trafc
engineering including optical switching technologies.
Dr. Lee has actively participated in standardization meetings including ITU-T
SG 13, IPTV-GSI, and IETF. He received several Best Paper Awards in interna-
tional and domestic conferences and served as a reviewer of IEEE journal and
international conferences.
Chae Sub Lee received the B.Sc. (Eng.) and M.Sc
(Eng.) degree from Kon-Kuk University in elec-
tronics engineering, Seoul, Korea in 1983 and in
1985, respectively.
He has been working in the telecoms standardiza-
tion eld for over 20 years. He has been actively in-
volved in regional standards in ASTAP, APT, TTA
and CJK in the area of network standards. He has
been involved in ITU-T standards development for
the ISDN, GII, IP-based networks and NGN. He was
mainly involved in Study Group XVIII (currently SG
13) as a rapporteur on Architecture and Interworking areas. He is a chairman
of ITU-T SG 13 on future networks including mobile and NGN. He has been
served as one of Vice-Chairman of ITU-T IPTV Focus Group since July 2006.
He shared his role as a Chairman of NGN Focus Group from June 2004 till
November 2005. After a career of twenty years with KT as a senior researching
engineer, he has been an invited researching staff to ETRI.
Woo Seop Rhee (M01) received B.S. degree in
computer science from Hong Ik University, Seoul,
Korea, in 1983 and M.S., and Ph.D. degree in 1995
and 2003, respectively, in computer science from
Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea.
From 1983 to 2005, he was with the Electronics
and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI).
He involved in development of TDX switching
system, HANbit ACE ATM switching system and
Optical access system as a project leader.
In 2005, Dr. Rhee joined Hanbat National Univer-
sity, Daejeon, Korea and is currently assistant professor of Multimedia engi-
neering department. His research interests are concerned with broadband net-
work architecture, quality of service in Internet and mobility management with
multicast. He is an active member of ITU-T SG 13 as Editor and member of
KICS in Korea and IEEE.
Jun Kyun Choi (SMXX) received the B.Sc. (Eng.)
from Seoul National University in electronics engi-
neering, Seoul, Korea in 1982, and M.Sc (Eng.) and
Ph.D. degree in 1985 and 1988, respectively, in elec-
tronics engineering fromKorea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology (KAIST).
From June 1986 until December 1997, he was
with the Electronics and Telecommunication Re-
search Institute (ETRI). In January 1998, he joined
the Information and Communications University
(ICU), Daejeon, Korea as a Professor. He is a
Senior Member of IEEE, the executive member of The Institute of Electronics
Engineers of Korea (IEEK), Editor Board of Member of Korea Information
Processing Society (KIPS), Life member of Korea Institute of Communication
Science (KICS). His research interests are concerned with broadband network
architecture and technologies particular emphasis on performance and protocol
problems. Secondary interests include the international standard activities on
broadband network architecture and protocol with mobility support.
Dr. Choi is an active member of ITU-T SG 13 as a Rapporteur or Editor from
January 1993 on the ATM, MPLS, and NGNissues. He had also submitted more
than 30 drafts on IETF during last few years.