STB software

HED, the Home Entertainment Device, is an advanced new generation interactive application framework (a.k.a middleware) for set top boxes. HED provides an interoperability/abstraction layer which is able to support interactive applications independently of the hardware implementation.

HED devices provide main functionality through a customizable Main Menu System which extends the user experience with a complete support for downloading and installing additional interactive applications. HED applications are defined in two levels:

  • View Layer. The graphical user interface runs over a HTML5 browser and is defined as a HTML/CSS/Javascript which uses the HED Javascript API to access the device functionality (players, tuners, remote controller, devices, network, etc...)
  • Device Capacities. The middleware provides advanced functionality to the view layer with capacities connected to HED API. This capacities are running native code (several languajes supported: Erlang OTP, C++, python, etc...) which allows the application to perform more complex tasks. As a special case, an application can have its own custom capacities, which can be downladed and installed too.

HED offers a device portability layer wich specifies the interfaces an APIs in order that a manufacturer can integrate HED middleware in an existing hardware. The main requirements are a Linux operating System with QT support.

Current integrated boxes

  • The Blu:sens WebTV and WebTV-Lite devices are using HED technology both for the consumers electronics market and for professional IPTV markets like Hospitality or Telco.