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eXtend the Possibilities
RiGHTv™ XVOD - Application Overview
An Orca Interactive Technical White Paper
Executive Summary
RiGHTv XVOD is Orca Interactive’s “eXtended Video-On-Demand” application to enable the
creation and management of a full VOD service. The RiGHTv™ XVOD application provides pre-
designed functionality for both subscribers and administrators for a variety of services that are
centered on a Movies-On-Demand service. This allows service providers to diversify their
revenue streams, introducing value-added services, to ensure the financial success of a
deployment.
Orca eXtends VOD by adding, for example, optional in-stream advertisements, merchandise
and t-commerce opportunities and premium services to enhance the service providers’
‘bottom line’.
By segmenting the Administration environment into different administrative roles, RiGHTv XVOD
reduces the complexities and overhead of maintaining high profile interactive services. Each
role is accessed directly and separately, enabling efficient maintenance and workflow.
This white paper offers a wide overview of the RiGHTv XVOD application, from both the
subscriber and the administrator point of view.
An Orca Interactive Technical White Paper

XVOD™ - Application Overview
What is the RiGHTv XVOD Application?
RiGHTv XVOD, Orca’s “eXtended Video-On-Demand” application, intended for the xDSL, FTTH
and cable market, enables the creation and management of a full VOD service. Subscribers
are given the opportunity to order movies and other on-demand content from the comfort of
their home and get direct video streams from the Video Server.
RiGHTv XVOD extends VOD technology with advertisement and merchandise offerings, and
provides full support for both the technology and business logic needed for the creation and
maintenance of a value-added Video-On-Demand service.
RiGHTv XVOD is built on top of RiGHTv™ Core, Orca’s platform for creation of interactive
streaming-related applications. To learn more about the advantages of building applications
over RiGHTv Core, please refer to Orca’s white paper “RiGHTv Core - the Concept of
Applications Over Core”.
RiGHTv XVOD contains a set of pre-designed functions for the subscriber as well as for the
service provider. A general presentation of these pre-designed functions will follow.
RiGHTv XVOD Glossary
Asset Repository - A subsystem within RiGHTv Core, which stores and manages rich media
assets. The stored media assets can be used by components in RiGHTv Core and the RiGHTv
XVOD and RiGHTv™ XBIP (Orca’s eXtended Broadcast over IP) applications.
Bookmarks - Pointers to specific locations within the video asset marked and saved by the user
in order to begin viewing the asset from these specific locations in the future.
Subscriber - The person who pays for the VOD service. There can be only one subscriber within
a household.
Household - The physical residence of a subscriber to the VOD service.
Member -a person that uses the VOD service within a household. There can be many members
within a household. The main member controls service settings for the other members.
Merchandise - Products that are associated with a movie/program (e.g. movie soundtrack).
Pin Code - a personal security code, which the subscriber uses within the VOD service to
access or confirm various service-related transactions.
RiGHTv Core - Orca’s platform for the creation and management of interactive streaming-
related applications.
The RiGHTv XVOD Service – Subscriber functionality
The RiGHTv XVOD service user interface is totally customizable and therefore enables each
service provider to brand the service and tailor the User Interface according to subscriber
preferences. Orca’s multi-channel reach capability gives service providers the ability to
simultaneously deliver services to TVs, PCs and mobile devices from a single application. This
also serves to preserve a service provider’s ROI on rollout of multiple generations of STBs. For
example, a navigation screen may offer the same functionality presented by different UIs for
different STBs and other devices:
An Orca Interactive Technical White Paper 2

To learn more about the advantages of multi-channel delivery, please refer to Orca’s white
paper “Multi-channel delivery: Architecture”.
Order Movie
The primary functionality that typifies a VOD service is purchasing a Movie. This functionality
includes:
Selecting a Movie – A subscriber can navigate to a specific movie either by
browsing the movie categories offered in the service or by searching the entire
service. For example: a subscriber may find the movie “Men In Black” by navigating
into the category “Action” as well as by searching for “Black”.
Movie Details – When a subscriber selects a movie, the ‘Movie Details’ page is
presented. This page includes information about the movie such as “movie
description”, “actors” etc. The type of information presented in this page is totally
customizable and depends on the operator’s preferences.
Preview – The subscriber can watch a preview of the movie through the movie
details page. The preview is offered in order to induce the subscriber to rent the
movie.
Rent a Movie – After choosing the preferred movie, the subscriber confirms the
order by entering an identifying pin code. The price of the movie is determined
according to the number of advertisements the subscriber is willing to watch during
the movie, as well as the rental period the subscriber has selected.

Full VCR-like Capabilities
A subscriber ordering a movie ‘On Demand’ maintains full VCR control over the movie, with
the ability to play, pause, stop, fast-forward and rewind the movie at any time.
Parental Control
Members inside a household are identified using a pin code. By identifying household
members, the system enforces parental control definitions. For example, a 13-year old
member that has been restricted by his parents to watch PG-13 movies will automatically
be restricted from watching these movies by the system.
Related Merchandise
RiGHTv XVOD extends service provider revenues and retains subscriber loyalty by
integrating impulse buying with Video-on-Demand. For example, while navigating into the
“Movie Details” page of “Austin Powers”, the subscriber may purchase the movie T-shirt,
poster or soundtrack. The purchase of the merchandise is authenticated and confirmed
using a pin-code entered by the purchasing subscriber.
“My Account”
The subscriber is given the option to see usage/activities information. This information may
be protected by pin-code and individualized to the specific member retrieving it or it may
give out the entire household’s aggregated account information. For example, the service
provider can create the service in a way that the main members of the household will be
able to access the entire household’s account information while the other members are
entitled to access only their own account information. The account information includes:
Open Tickets – Movies that are still
available within the rental period can be
accessed for further viewing through the
“Open Tickets” function. The subscriber
can view the movie from the beginning
or resume at the last position viewed.
When the rental period expires, the
movie will be removed from the “Open
Tickets” list.
Bookmarks – The subscriber can create
placeholders while watching the movie.
Each member can view their own
personal Bookmarks, including: movie
name, position and date of creation. The
subscriber can “play” the movie from the
bookmark position.

Movies Ordered - A list of all the movies that have been ordered by the
household/member in the past. The Service provider defines the period of time for
which this information will remain accessible.
Purchase History - A list of merchandise that has been ordered by the
household/member in the past. The service provider defines the period of time for
which this information will remain accessible.
The RiGHTv XVOD Service – Administrator Functionality
The RiGHTv XVOD application provides the administrator with the framework needed to create
and maintain the subscriber features. The administrator determines the business rules to be
applied throughout the service. To enable efficient, cost-effective administration RiGHTv XVOD
administrators are divided into separated roles:
Non technical positions:
o Content Manager is the administrator that maintains content attributes, such as
description and pricing; links movies to merchandise; monitors and analyzes usage
and generates reports.
o Advertisement Manager is the administrator that handles in-stream advertisements;
loads ads; defines advertising consumption algorithm; analyzes usage and reports it
to advertisers and agencies.
o Subscriber Manager is the administrator that maintains subscriber details and
manages interfaces with external CRM applications; maintains parental control
rules, as well as groups and communities for promotion and filtering; defines
subscribers within groups; defines family members within a subscriber (i.e.
“household”).
Technical positions:
o Service Developer is the administrator that maintains system definition; maintains UI
templates that enable multi-channel delivery.
o Video Server Manager is the administrator that manages integration with the video
server engine for optimal performance and maximal functionality.
Business Model Parameters
The administrator decides on certain parameters that will be relevant to the entire service.
These parameters are:
Rental Periods – The administrator defines the rental periods for each movie or type
of movies. This is done by setting the number of hours in the rental period, for
example: “24”, “48” or “72”.

Advertisement Category – The number of advertisements attached to the movie as
preview ads or inserted ads defines an advertisement category. For example:
GOLD may be a category of movies with no advertisements at all and SILVER may
be a category of movies with 5 minutes of advertisements or 10 ad placements.
Pricing groups – The pricing model allows the administrator to offer a different price
for different advertisement packages. The pricing model also offers the subscriber a
number of rental periods to choose from. RiGHTv XVOD enables the administrator to
define a number of pricing groups, each of which defines a price matrix based on
these two dimensions. When inserting a movie into the service, the administrator
assigns it a pricing category. For example, the pricing group “Oldies” could have a
different price matrix than “New Releases”.
Discounts – After creating pricing groups, the administrator can also define special
discounts for certain subscriber groups in the system. For example, “Premium
Subscribers” can receive a 20% discount on the “list price” of a movie.
Movie Management
The process of adding a new movie into the RiGHTv XVOD service includes several steps;
Uploading assets into Video Server – The asset, in its digital format, is uploaded into
the video server. At a later stage, the application will make use of the asset through
the application’s Asset Repository.
Asset Repository – RiGHTv XVOD makes use of RiGHTv Core’s Asset Repository that
serves both RiGHTv XVOD and RiGHTv XBIP. The Asset Repository is an integral part
of RiGHTv Core and is in charge of handling asset functions in the Video Servers. An
asset needs to be catalogued into the Asset Repository in order for the system to be
able to manipulate it. The administrator creates a logical asset entity in the Asset
Repository representing the physical copies of the movie.
Movie Editing – In order to implement advertisement categories an advertisement
insertion step is needed. For each advertisement category, a logical play-out
sequence must be created. For
example, in a service that offers
three advertisement categories:
GOLD (no advertisements),
SILVER (5 minutes of
advertisements) and BRONZE (10
minutes of advertisements),
each movie has three versions
that are created by the
administrator by inserting
advertisements into each of the
movie sequences. Future versions
of RiGHTv XVOD will support real
time and personalized
advertisement insertion.
Adding a movie to the service – In order to add a movie to the service, the
administrator creates a “movie item”. The new movie item contains attributes such
as the category under which it is displayed, the pricing group to which it belongs,
and the parental rating it represents. The administrator defines these attributes
when the movie is inserted into the service. After the movie item has been created,
the movie is accessible only in the development area for a testing phase.
Publishing a movie to production – After the movie and the service have been
tested in the development area, the movie is “published” to production. Only an
administrator possessing the necessary privileges can publish a movie to
production.

Subscriber Management System (SMS) and RiGHTv XVOD
Both RiGHTv XVOD and XBIP™ make use of RiGHTv Core’s SMS. The SMS contains generic
modules that service all applications and specific modules that service certain applications.
Subscriber identification mechanisms, household member information and household
technical equipment are some of the modules used by both applications. RiGHTv XVOD makes
use of and extends modules such as the Subscriber Usage Log and the Subscriber grouping
mechanism:
Usage Information
The administrator gets usage reports for each household. These reports include information
regarding the movies and merchandise that have been ordered by each of the household
members.
Parental Control
Parental Control in RiGHTv XVOD is implemented by extending the grouping mechanism
supported by the SMS. The main member of the household controls subscribers’ parental
control ratings. A main member in a household has the privilege to set or change parental
rating limits and authorizes other members of the household to become main members. For
example, a typical household may include two main members (parents) and several other
members (children).
Each member can be given different access privileges that will eventually determine
whether or not he/she can watch a movie. In the SMS, the main member may limit other
members to a certain movie rating. For example, a main member may limit a 13-year-old
member to PG-13 movies only. This member will automatically be restricted from watching
movies rated higher than PG-13.

Conclusion
RiGHTv XVOD focuses on revenue-generating features such as “Movie Preview” “Bookmarks”
and “Merchandise”. Use of these features enable subscribers to get more from a VOD offering,
while service providers extend their revenues from the service. Built on top of RiGHTv Core,
RiGHTv XVOD offers a flexible service that is fully customizable to fit the functionality and “look
and feel” desired by the service provider. Using RiGHTv Core functionality, the service can be
accessed from different devices, such as TV, PC, PDA and wireless. Orca’s multi-device
capability gives both operators and subscribers several advantages:
Preserves service providers ROI on rollout of multi-generation STBs
Provides delivery of “many services” from single administration
Provides universal access to ensure subscriber loyalty
The concept of “Applications Over Core” enables easy integration of RiGHTv XVOD with other
applications such as Orca’s RiGHTv XBIP (eXtended Broadcast-over-IP application).
More about RiGHTv Core
Designed specifically for the service provider, RiGHTv Core delivers a complete end-to-end solution
for creating and running services in the interactive TV market- from the head-end to the subscriber's
set-top box. Using the building blocks in RiGHTv Core's architecture, service providers can fine-tune
services in all aspects of the system; for example, creation of customized user interfaces adapted to
the users' preferences and device types.
RiGHTv Core delivers the following functionalities:
1. Access to essential parts of the system's elements: subscribers management system, content
repository and management, service presentation, to name just a few. The Subscriber
Management Sub-System and the Customization Engine enable service providers to fine-tune
their services based on subscriber preferences and usage. An extensive Assets Management
Sub-System manages data and meta-data for different media formats, from low-bandwidth,
Internet-quality images and video clips to streaming TV-quality Hollywood films and other on-
demand content.
2. A run-time engine to deliver content and service interactivity to the subscriber. The run-time
engine is responsible for generating services pages for different devices (STBs, PC, PDA and
mobile) and middleware (HTML, OpenTV) and for capturing and processing user interactivity.
3. A development environment. RiGHTv Core services are based on Objects, building blocks
created with any of the various popular markup languages, such as HTML, ATVEF, JavaScript,
and XML. Since Objects are reusable, this significantly reduces both initial development and
long-term maintenance efforts. A full separation of the content layer and the presentation layer
enables delivery of services to different devices (STBs, PC, PDA and mobile) while using the same
data to conform to different user and device requirements.
RiGHTv Core is the platform for Orca's RiGHTv XVOD and RiGHTv XBIP applications:
RiGHTv XVOD (eXtended Video-on-Demand Application) enables the creation and
management of a full VOD service. Subscribers are given the opportunity to order movies
and other on-demand content from the comfort of their home and get direct video streams
from the Video Server.
RiGHTv XBIP (extended Broadcast-over-IP Application) offers service providers the ability to
provide and manage multi-casting of TV channels. It includes management tools for creating
channels, scheduling programs and defining service packages to be offered to subscribers.
RiGHTv XBIP and RiGHTv XVOD open new revenue channels for service providers.

eXtend the Possibilities
November 2001
Roni Antebi roni@OrcaInteractive.com
Orca Interactive Ltd.
1 Sapir St. P.O.Box 12721
IND-Zone Herzeliyya
46733 Israel
Worldwide Inquiries:
Phone: +972-9-9564444
Fax: +972-9-9564447
Orca Interactive, a member of Emblaze Systems,
develops and markets multi-channel streaming
applications.
RiGHTv™, XVOD™ and XBIP™ are
trademarks of Orca Interactive Ltd.
Products and services names referenced herein
may be trademarks of Orca Interactive Ltd.
All other products and services names
mentioned may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
Copyright 2001 Orca Interactive Ltd.
www.OrcaInteractive.com

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