scope:

The following IPTV services and features fall within the scope of this document:

♦ Content user preferences (for both linear and VOD), including parental control.

♦ Accessibility user preferences, including closed captioning.

♦ Services to which users are subscribed.

♦ Recording of content consumption and interaction (i.e., usage logging or audience measurement).

The following specific aspects of metadata elements are considered in this document:

♦ Definitions of the required metadata elements.

♦ Interfaces across which the metadata elements need to be exchanged.

♦ Recommended formats for the metadata elements.

♦ Recommended protocols for metadata exchange (as appropriate).

♦ Adoption of appropriate metadata elements from existing standards.

Purpose

This document defines a hierarchical data structure represented as XML schemas that facilitates the exchange of data related to users and the devices with which users consume IPTV services. It is understood that information related to content consumption and user preferences is personal and sensitive in nature. This specification supports means by which users can control the degree to which their personal information is made available to other entities such as service, network, and content providers in order to preserve the user's privacy.

The user preferences and usage history data structures defined in this document are intended to support a set of essential IPTV services including linear and VOD services. In order to support additional services and applications (for example, interactive advertising), it could be necessary to enhance the data structures. However, some degree of extensibility of this specification is achieved through the use of classification schemes which can be customized by IPTV service providers in a manner that is compliant with this version of this specification. Furthermore, data structures are provided that describe users' capabilities and preferences - such as disabilities or language preferences - and these are of a general nature and therefore reusable by future applications and services.

In general, terminal metadata specifies the data required to configure, customize, operate, support, and bill an IPTV service. The interoperability enabled by standardization of terminal metadata will greatly reduce the effort required by all the relevant parties to provide IPTV services.