ActiveVideo Builds Voice-Controlled TV Navigation Platform

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, ActiveVideo Networks, creators of CloudTV, the cloud-based app platform for television, will demonstrate voice-controlled television navigation.

The company will be showing advanced navigation interfaces, such as iVOD, and other apps on the CloudTV H5 platform. In the demo, the CloudTV H5 platform is used in tandem with devices that support the Siri personal assistant application from Apple to bring voice control navigation through any digital set-top box or connected device. For example, viewers could request that the platform "show all of the 'Harry Potter' movies," or "show all of the movies with Brad Pitt."

Voice commands are transmitted through the cellular network to CloudTV servers, which respond to the input by delivering specific video and applications as a personalized, adaptive video stream to the set-top box or connected device. The time required for the entire transaction is consistent with that of standard remote controls, the company said.

Designed to interface seamlessly with existing cable operator network infrastructure, the CloudTV H5 platform executes and renders the complete application in the cloud. The appl is delivered as a personalized, adaptive video stream to the set-top box or connected device, which passes remote control key clicks or keypad entries back through the network to the cloud with very low latency. The CloudTV platform, including this capability, can be completely deployed without changing or adding a single device in the home, thus achieving unparalleled service velocity. CloudTV is approaching nearly 10 million screens in the U.S. and abroad with Cablevision Systems, Oceanic Time Warner Cable and other operators, as well as on Philips-brand TVs.

"Voice-controlled navigation through any digital set-top box is one of those experiences that only CloudTV can enable," said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo Networks, said in a statement. "And while voice control itself is innovative, what's most important is how the interoperability of cloud-based processing can dramatically transform the way viewers control and engage with their televisions, and can lead to a new generation of television services that is limited only by our imaginations."