Jump to content

CE-HTML

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 164.4.17.33 (talk) at 10:38, 7 June 2012 (→See also). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

CE-HTML[1] is a language for creating user interface pages for Consumer Electronics (CE) devices such as televisions. These CE-HTML pages are typically placed online and are based on a 10-foot user interface for easy control from a distance. It is profiled on XHTML and associated standards with special CE-HTML extensions.

Example CE-HTML page, with description

CE-HTML is part of the CEA-2014 standard (also referred to as Web4CE[2]), defined within the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).[3]

Features

CE-HTML consists of the following internet languages:

CE-HTML can both be used in-home through UPnP as via the Internet. It allows the content creator to use the common and known languages in the web to define a user interface that can be controlled on a CE device. A CE-HTML client typically consists of a web browser adapted for the CE-HTML standard running on a consumer electronics device. CE-HTML offers specific extensions for these browsers such as :

  • Multi-tap or other CE-specific alpha-numeric input support, by making use of the CSS3 input-format tag[12].
  • Media (audio/video) playout through the use of an audio/video scripting object.
  • Operation via remote control (spatial navigation) using the up, down, left, right and OK keys
  • Client capability matching – to match the client capabilities to the user interfaces that the server offers. For this purpose, each CE-HTML compliant client is making use of a capability profile. This profile, placed in the user-agent string of the client, lets the server know what part of CE-HTML is supported by the client. The server in turn transmits its capabilities in a so called "XML UI Listing" so the client can choose between the various CE-HTML user interfaces the server offers.
  • User interface profiles for usage on CE devices such as a television. These are predefined capability profiles on which a CE-HTML client can base its capabilities. They define e.g. the fonts supported, screen-size of the device and the media that is supported by the a/v scripting object in the device. All profiles are based on a 10-foot user interface.
  • Third-party notifications which allow a client to poll for messages from an external server, and display these to the user regardless of the currently displayed user interface.
  • A specific new MIME-type for CE-HTML content: "application/ce-html+xml".

Typical CE-HTML code looks like this[13]: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"ce-html-1.0-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>CE-HTML</title>
</head>
<body onload="document.getElementById('myvid').play(1);">
CE-HTML a/v object:<br/>
<object type="video/mp4" id="myvid" data="myvideo.mp4" width="640" height="480"></object>
</body>
</html>

History

CE-HTML was developed within the Consumer Electronics Association R7WG9 working group – consisting of a number of CE-manufacturers – to formulate an answer to the problem of displaying HTML (web) content on a device that does not possess the characteristics of a typical personal computer[14]. CE devices have problems displaying regular web pages because these pages make use of:

  • small fonts and images, not readable from a distance as when experienced from a TV or set-top box
  • only mouse or keyboard based navigation, not navigable using remote control
  • no highlight on the navigable elements so a user cannot see the element they navigate
  • many non-portable browser specific extensions (DOM level 0/legacy DOM)
  • no standard audio/video object implementation
  • the use of proprietary – not CE-compatible – extensions such as Adobe Flash

Further difficulties with using a CE device to display web content are caused by the fact that CE devices typically have different capabilities such as different resolutions, remote controls and audio/video codecs.

Use

CE-HTML is increasingly used within other standards, such as the Open IPTV Forum[15], the Digital Living Network Alliance (as of version 2) and HbbTV. Some research suggests that CEA-2014 (of which CE-HTML is an important part) will be one of the key technologies in the living room internet experience[16]. There are currently a number of browser vendors and solution providers that claim to have a CE-HTML capable browser, such as Oregan[17] developed by Oregan Networks Ltd and the Wedison project[18] which is based on Webkit.

Philips released the first devices which support the CE-HTML standard[19] through the Net TV feature in Europe in April, 2009[20][21], which in 2010[22] expanded to include Sharp[23] and Loewe[24] platforms. Connected TV's are also being released by Samsung[25], Panasonic[26] and Sony[27], although these base their work on different languages[28][29][30].

See also

References

  1. ^ "CE-HTML for remote user interfaces for consumer devices". Domoticspoint.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Web4CE: Accessing Web-based Applications on Consumer Devices" (PDF). Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Consumer Electronics Association: CEA-2014". Ce.org. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  4. ^ "Ecmascript 262, 3rd edition". Ecma-international.org. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  5. ^ http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xhtml1-20020801/ XHTML 1.0 transitional/strict
  6. ^ "CSS TV Profile 1.0". W3.org. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  7. ^ "XMLHttpRequest object". W3.org. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  8. ^ "DOM level 2.0 Core". W3.org. 20 November 1997. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  9. ^ "DOM level 2.0 Style". W3.org. 13 November 2000. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  10. ^ "DOM level 2.0 Events". W3.org. 13 November 2000. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  11. ^ "DOM level 2.0 HTML". W3.org. 9 January 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  12. ^ "CSS3 working draft". W3.org. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  13. ^ CEA-2014 errata[dead link]
  14. ^ CELF-2007 CEA-2014 standard introduction
  15. ^ Open IPTV Forum – Declarative Application Environment
  16. ^ http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4534279458.html
  17. ^ "Oregan media browser information". Oregan.net. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  18. ^ http://www.wedison.org Wedison project information
  19. ^ Andrews, Robert (1 September 2008). "Philips demoing Net TV". Paidcontent.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  20. ^ "Philips Net TV live in April, 2009". Engadget.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Philips announces Net TV". Pocket-lint.co.uk. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  22. ^ "Philips partners with Sharp and Loewe". Whathifi.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  23. ^ "Sharp Aquos Net". Hughsnews.ca. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  24. ^ "Loewe Medianet". Loewe-int.de. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  25. ^ "Samsung Internet-enabled televisions this year". Inquisitr.com. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  26. ^ "Panasonic Vieracast internet enabled plasmas due this summer". Engadget.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  27. ^ "Sony Google TV". Discover.sonystyle.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  28. ^ "Samsung Connected TV Yahoo". Connectedtv.yahoo.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  29. ^ "Panasonic Vieracast". .panasonic.com. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  30. ^ http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8497272379.html
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CE-HTML&oldid=496416221"