Multiview TV Powered by the Video Stitching Engine®

The Aurora Networks Multiview TV solution is powered by the Video Stitching Engine (VSE), a power platform for personalizing existing video and creating applications and graphics that are delivered as standard video streams.

• Content creation on VSE can be automated and scripted, and the VSE TV apps can be navigated in real time with client integration

• These TV apps can generate video products that support a wide variety of subscriber use cases, including Multiview TV, interactive ads, Advanced TV delivery, and personalized program guides

• The VSE’s app-based architecture enables video service providers to configure their IP video platforms based on their business needs by picking and choosing which VSE apps to integrate and deploy

VSE has a variety of deployment options, including:

• On-premise

• Cloud

• Hybrid platforms

From these platforms, VSE can deliver content to virtually any device, including:

• Legacy set-top boxes (via virtualization, which enables these devices to access new, IP-based services)

• Next-generation set-top boxes

• Common streaming devices

• Connected TVs

Since VSE can convert Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) video to traditional MPEG transport streams, it offers a unified viewing experience. The result? Graphically sophisticated video, ad, and information options for subscribers.

The VSE platform uses two components that interact to create Multiview output: the Scaler and the Stitcher.

To create Multiview output, the Scaler first intercepts multicast video source feeds from the headend. Next, the Scaler processes these feeds and scales down the image from a standard, full-screen ratio to an output size that will fit a specific 2-tile, 3-tile, or 4-tile Multiview layout. The Scaler can also scale multiple multicast outputs simultaneously into the resolution required by the Multiview output.

Next, the Stitcher—the primary rendering component for Multiview output—ingests the scaled video feeds from the Scaler. The Stitcher then constructs a single Multiscreen view from these scaled feeds. During this step, the Stitcher integrates any User Interfaces and other pictures, data, or graphics that may be required and synchronizes audio and video across the scaled-down multicast feeds. After compositing the Multiview output, the Stitcher sends it to the video service provider’s encoder and packager for grooming and packaging into the target ABR format. From here, the Multiview output is made available on the delivery network, where subscribers can access the content from IP-connected devices.

VSE Multiview Architecture Diagram

Multiview products can be delivered to subscriber devices via one of two architectures.

• Client-Side architectures deliver each of the individual channels in the multiview as independent streams to the subcriber device, where the streams are composited and synchronized

• Server-Side architectures, where the different video streams are composited and synchronized into a single, encoded output stream from a central server location

The Aurora Networks Multiview TV solution uses a Server-Side architecture that resides in the VSE core and centralizes Multiview decoding and compositing tasks: in general, the most efficient and cost-effective of transforming Multiview from a high-bandwidth, premium feature into an operationally scalable, full-footprint service tier.

The benefits of Server-Side architectures include:

• Lightweight client resource requirements, which enables video service providers to fully deploy Multiview services to nearly any device in subscribers’ homes

• Optimized bandwidth usage, thanks to the delivery of a single, composited Multiview stream to subscribers’ devices

• Superior latency and synchronization via a single encode pipeline

• A more optimized and scalable architecture with a functional split for Multiview processing across server systems and client devices

• A consistent, unified platform for maximizing potential ad revenue and fully monetizing Multiview products