DIGITAL TELEVISION AND ONLINE

HbbTV and Second Screen

Manufacturer independent interaction with HbbTV applications

Are you interested in offering second or multi-screen sistent experience on a companion screen for all
applications? Do you want to let your customers use three modes of interaction.
any smartphone or tablet together with your TV appli-
cations? Do you want to avoid buying into vendor-
specific end-to-end solutions?

IRT’s Second Screen Framework is the answer!

Our solution offers a manufacturer-independent inte-

gration of second screens into HbbTV applications.
For the user, a new world of experiences opens up
through the intelligent combination of a second
screen and a TV on the basis of HbbTV.

Background
While watching TV, many users commonly interact
with an additional screen-based device such as a tab-
let or smartphone. We need to distinguish at least
between the following modes of multi-screen usage:
 Related activity with complementary usage of
second screen: user search for topics/persons
they see on TV
 Sequential usage of devices: users continue to
watch content on a different device
Current second screen applications lack a logical
communication link between the content on the TV
and the additional screen. Such a link however is cru-
cial for engaging users better by offering a truly con-
Example HbbTV application “rbbtext HD” and its
second screen counterpart
With the help of IRT’s Second Screen Framework,
related information and social media interaction can
be offered on a second screen-based device in sync
with the TV programme.
How does that work?
IRT’s Second Screen Framework offers a set of func-
tionalities which can be used by the HbbTV device
and its second screen counterpart enabling the com-
munication between the applications on the two de-
vices.

31.01.17
Just simple and fast!

A second screen-enabled HbbTV application is ex-

tended by a menu item to connect a second device.
This directly leads the user to a QR code popup on the
TV (created by the framework).

After scanning this QR code with a smartphone or tab-

lets, a persistent logical connection is established, en-
abling a communication between the website launched
on the second screen and the HbbTV application run-
Connection dialog popup on the TV screen
ning on the TV.

To establish the connection, the system does not rely
on a local device discovery mechanism and is thus ro-
bust against peculiarities of local network installations.
This also allows the communication between devices in
local LAN/WiFi networks and those connected to a 3G
network.
Bottom line
IRT’s Second Screen Framework provides a straight-
forward solution to developers for creating innovative
TV applications reaching out to the user’s personal
smartphone or tablet.

The user can now interact with the HbbTV application

second screen
from the second screen as well as from the TV remote HbbTV application spplication
control.

device device
connection connection client

server
connection management

application server

Block diagram of IRT’s Second Screen Framework

Get your catch-up TV over second screen

Part of the research and development work for the Second Screen
Technical details Framework receives European Commission funding in the projects
FI-CONTENT and FI-CONTENT 2 under the Seventh Framework
The Second Screen Framework offers functional com- Programme.
ponents on a server which can be accessed by an ap-
plication (HbbTV or regular website). These compo- HbbTV® and the HbbTV® logo are registered trademarks
nents offer JavaScript APIs enabling the application to
establish a first connection, to start a web application
on the second screen and to communicate between
the two running applications.

Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH Visit us on our website:

Floriansmühlstraße 60
80939 München
Germany
www.irt.de

Contact:
Marketing & Sales
Phone +49 (0)89|32399-300
Fax +49 (0)89|32399-620
marketing@irt.de