Currently available Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) are mainly used for digital TV reception. The User Interface (UI) and the U1 dialog of such a device usually focus on its technological aspects and to a large degree ignore the needs of the user. The impact is that the user quite often is unsatisfied when interacting with the device. Recent U1 design approaches [9] [10] are proving that the focus should be put on the tasks that the user can perform with a STB rather than its underlying technical capabilities.However, modem design approaches both for the STB U1 as well as its underlying system architecture can be incorporated into a complete system design with reasonable effort. This paper presents the architecture of the "d-box", a STB being used for broadcasting TV services as well as future interactive services like internet, home-shopping etc. in Germany. The layered software architecture employs a Java Virtual Machine offering a high degree of independency of its underlying hardware. Emphasis is put upon the user-friendliness of the device by providing a uniform U1 both for experts and novices, therefore allowing intuitive and easy access for different user groups.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.