Networked Multimedia with Internet Media Guides

Internet Media Guides (IMGs) are a generalisation of Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) as known from digital video broadcasting (DVB). They are independent of specific metadata formats and thus are able to support a broad range of applications, including EPG distribution for TV networks and distribution of session descriptions for Internet-based multimedia sessions. Unlike most existing approaches, the IMG framework is also completely independent of specific delivery networks for the media content described in media guides—and it is also independent of the distribution mechanisms for the media guides themselves: IMGs can be distributed in unidirectional broadcast networks, they can also retrieved over established query/response protocols such as HTTP, and they allow for asynchronous change-notifications to interested subscribers. This paper presents the fundamental concepts of the IMG framework and introduces the main components. We further describe implementation and application experiences and discuss potential enhancements to the existing IMG specifications.