Baselines

The SmartTUBE Service Delivery Platform (SDP) provides access of digital TV subscribers to such services as Live TV, Pause Live, Video on Demand (VoD), Personal Video Recording (nPVR), Pay-per-view (PPV), etc. To implement them, SmartTUBE Server with the web-based SmartTUBE Admin Console is deployed on the operator’s side. This is the core of the platform and is designed to manage the entities below.

Subscriber Management Entities

For how to manage these entities, see subsections Pricing Plans and Service Accounts.

• Service Account — contains all information about a subscriber and uniquely identifies it in the system. A subscriber can bind several devices — STBs, mobile devices, Smart TVs — to the account and use them in parallel within a device limit set by the operator. Typically, service accounts are created from the Account templates automatically, when a subscriber authorizes in the system for the first time. If an integration between SmartTUBE and operator’s OSS/BSS is configured, the service account corresponds to a subscriber’s account in the OSS/BSS. Subscriber’s personal data is stored on the OSS/BSS side only.
• Terminal (or Connection) — uniquely identifies the end-user device of a subscriber in the system. Each device should be bound to at least one service account.
• Device type — an attribute reported by each subscriber’s device to the SmartTUBE Server, through which the server determines the device functionality. Thus, you can, for example, limit the number of mobile devices on one service account, use different TV streams on devices of different types, use different promo banners or channel logos, etc.
• User profile — contains parameters of age restrictions for content watching and purchase, UI language preferences, personal content sorting, etc. customized by subscriber. Subscriber can create several user profiles. Profiles are bound to the service account, thus they are common for all devices of a subscriber. Profiles can be protected by a PIN code.
• Pricing plan — a fixed list of service bundles, can include services of different types. Allows to customize the delivering rules for each bundle. For example, you can enable a bundle by default or prevent the subscriber from disabling it.
• Price list —  contains the cost and usage conditions of each service bundle. There are two types of price lists:
  • One-time purchase — a fee for the service bundle paid once. You can specify additional rules for such bundles to configure differentiated pricing, for example, a rule to charge for the duration of the service (a day, month, year, forever, etc.).
  • Subscription — the service bundle is provided for a certain period of time and involves periodic payment. Subscription payment is handled by OSS/BSS.

Content Management Entities

The management of these entities is disclosed in subsections Setting Up TV Services and Setting Up xVoD Services.

• TV Channel — contains all information about a particular TV channel: URL of the channel stream, channel logo, description, regional restrictions, etc.
• EPG (Electronic Program Guide) — TV program guide for a particular TV channel, containing all information about Programs and their air date.  
• Movie — contains all metadata of a particular movie: title, description, cast, posters, links to assets, age restrictions, etc. One movie can be linked to assets of different content providers.  
• Series — each series contains metadata for the Seasons and Episodes that make up the series.
• Content Bundle or Package — a package of TV channels, VoD movies, personal recording limits, etc. The bundles can be delivered to all or specific Device types.

Content Promotion Entities

For how to manage these entities, see the subsection Content Promotion.

• Banner — contains information about a banner displayed in the SmartTUBE apps’ UI on the top of the Home screen (in the carousel). Banner may contain several images intended for different Device types.
• Recommendation — movie or series recommendation displayed on the Home screen of the SmartTUBE apps as a poster in the ‘Recommended content’ rail.
• Showcase — a list of movies or series recommended by the operator and united by a specific theme. Displayed on the Home screen of the SmartTUBE apps as a poster rail.