Hybrid broadcast broadband TV (HbbTV) is a global initiative aimed at harmonising the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment services to consumers through connected TVs, set-top boxes and multiscreen devices. The new HbbTV feature Application Discovery (ADB) over Broadband has been desgined to expand HbbTV usage to additional market segments. The key usage mode of the HbbTV standard today is to launch HbbTV applications which are linked to broadcast services. The technical elements which is used for linking is the AIT (Application Information table) which is defined by a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard and which is inserted into the DVB broadcast signal. This leads to the result that HbbTV does not work in networks where the AIT is blocked by the network operator or for OTT TV services where DVB standards are not applicable at all.
In order to overcome these restrictions, the HbbTV Association has developed a standard which allows the HbbTV TV set to retrieve the AIT in XML format from a webserver using the service name and country code.
Jointly with ARD, RadioDNS and Tara Systems, IRT has coordinated the first practical steps to implement this procedure in a prototypical way. The results have been demonstrated publicly at the “Medientage München” Oct 24th-26th 2017: The prototype box with TARA Systems middleware (integrating HbbTV with AndroidTV) was able to launch the HbbTV services on cable multiplex without AIT as well as on the Zattoo OTT streams.
More information about the HbbTV ADB specification
How HbbTV ADB works in detail is shown in the video.