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Saturday Oct 28, 2006

Coming Soon: Automatic Software Updates to your TV

Digital TVs are essentially becoming computers - they now run various levels of complex software including operating systems, device drivers, and firmware. Since there will be software bugs and new features introduced among all of those layers, how do you get software updates distributed and applied to potentially tens or hundreds of millions of fielded TV sets? Today these updates may get done by mailing USB drives to customers (US $30) or sending technicians to residences (US $250). Either way, these software update methods are too expensive and don't scale.

Another solution rolling out soon in the USA uses the ATSC A/97 Software Data Download Service (PDF version available here) that provides a bi-directional MPEG-2 transport channel for moving software bits, which works over TV broadcast and cable networks (Sun Microsystems is a member of the ATSC). A software agent (all too familiar with anyone who has done work in the computer systems management arena) lives on the TV set and happily "tunes into" the software update stream periodically to receive new bits, and then proceeds to apply them to the set.

One such software update service provider (SUSP?), Update Logic, will be rolling out their UpdateTV service as early as this December, and will be using PBS spectrum and facilities to carry the update channel. Participating TV set manufacturers that are already signed up with Update Logic evaluation contracts include Sharp, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi.

Software update services are common in the computer industry, like the Sun Update Connection or Apple's MacOSX Updater. It will be interesting to see how the TV update services handle the typical computer software update challenges, such as:


  • Privacy
    • Are consumers ready to have a bidirectional management channel coming into their TV set? What bits are coming into my house, and maybe more importantly, what's leaving? If I'm not comfortable with the answers to these questions, can I disable the agent except for when I want updates?
  • Security
    • Just how secure is that software update channel? Is it encrypted and authenticated to protect me from malicious code getting deployed into my TV?
  • Reboot Scheduling
    • If a major software update becomes available that requires my TV to be rebooted, when does the reboot happen? Not during the second overtime of the World Cup Final, I hope.
  • Backout Protection
    • If a particular TV software update does not perform or degrades my experience, how do I back out the change and revert to the previous software bits?
  • Extendability
    • Why limit software updates to just TV's? Other devices in my house, like my washing machine, might want to be updated as well. How can other appliance vendors participate in this software update distribution mechanism?

Software Updates: They're Not Just For Computers Anymore


Posted at 11:48AM Oct 28, 2006 by Peter Schow in Sun  |  Comments[3]

Comments:

I live in Italy and here we already have our DVB-T (w/MHT) devices being automatically updated (if you configured your device to do so) with unidirectionally broadcasted updates. There are not privacy concerns because the transmission is unidirectional. There ARE security concerns. My device at least does not allow to schedule reboots and does not keep a backup of old versions of the software.

Posted by Hernan Lionel Cianfagna on October 29, 2006 at 03:42 AM MST #

Hello Hernan, Thanks, that is good information. If you don't mind telling me, who is the manufacturer of your TV? Thanks, Peter

Posted by Peter on October 30, 2006 at 02:18 PM MST #

Regarding your questions, I can provide some insight as to how they relate to the UpdateLogic solution. Privacy is not an issue as the software distribution network is unidirectional and as such it can not be used to retrieve data of any kind from the consumer’s device. Security is handled at many levels; some are associated with the network and are implemented using encryption techniques similar to that which is used to protect audio and video from being tampered with. Other levels include proprietary security solutions that are only known to the manufacturer. Together these two provide a comprehensive security solution. Regarding the interruption of programming, the download and installation of new software is typically done when the TV is off or in standby. As such, there is little or no risk of impacting the user. Backout protection is an excellent topic. It is extremely important that any solution like this type maintain a copy of the previous software image just in case an unexpected “feature” results from the installation of the newly installed software image. Should this condition occur, the system or user can return the TV to the previous software version. The UpdateLogic network requires this support. Lastly, if your washing machine or refrigerator has a digital TV tuner, or is directly connected to a device that has a digital tuner; it just might get a software update some day. -- Steve Hastings, VP Engineering, UpdateLogic Inc.

Posted by Steve Hastings on November 02, 2006 at 12:46 PM MST #

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