The present document is designed to be used in conjunction with EN 300 468 [2] and TR 101 211 [22]. The DVB
System provides a means of delivering MPEG-2 Transport Streams (TS) via a variety of transmission media. These TSs
have traditionally been oriented to containing MPEG-2 Video and Audio. Data broadcasting is seen as an important
extension of the MPEG-2 based DVB transmission standards. Examples for data broadcasting are the download of
software over satellite, cable or terrestrial links, the delivery of Internet services over broadcast channels (IP tunnelling),
interactive TV, etc. Four different application areas with different requirements for the data transport have been
identified. For each application area a data broadcasting profile is specified in the present document. The following is a
short description of the application areas and the profiles.
Data piping:
- The data broadcast specification profile for data pipes supports data broadcast services that require a simple,
asynchronous, end-to-end delivery of data through DVB compliant broadcast networks. Data broadcast
according to the data pipe specification is carried directly in the payloads of MPEG-2 TS packets
(see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]).
Data streaming:
- The data broadcast specification profile for data streaming supports data broadcast services that require a
streaming-oriented, end-to-end delivery of data in either an asynchronous, synchronous or synchronized way
through DVB compliant broadcast networks. Data broadcast according to the data streaming specification is
carried in Program Elementary Stream (PES) packets which are defined in MPEG-2 Systems
(see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]).
- Asynchronous data streaming is defined as the streaming of only data without any timing requirements
(e.g. RS-232 data).
- Synchronous data streaming is defined as the streaming of data with timing requirements in the sense that the
data and clock can be regenerated at the receiver into a synchronous data stream (e.g. E1, T1). Synchronized
data streaming is defined as the streaming of data with timing requirements in the sense that the data within the
stream can be played back in synchronization with other kinds of data streams (e.g. audio, video).
Multiprotocol encapsulation:
- The data broadcast specification profile for multiprotocol encapsulation supports data broadcast services that
require the transmission of datagrams of communication protocols via DVB compliant broadcast networks.
The transmission of datagrams according to the multiprotocol encapsulation specification is done by
encapsulating the datagrams in DSM-CC sections (see ISO/IEC 13818-6 [3]), which are compliant with the
MPEG-2 private section format (see ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1]).
- The data broadcast specification support a standard mechanism for signalling IP/MAC services deployed
within DVB networks and enables the implementation of DVB receivers that are completely self-tuning when
accessing IP/MAC streams on one or more transport streams. The signalling mechanism is provided via the
IP/MAC Notification Table (INT). The mechanism builds on [2], [21] and [3] for signalling and the current
specification for data carriage.