The middleware is an intermediate software layer which must be integrated with the equipment used for receiving digital TV signal compatible with DTVi standard. Ginga is an open software specification (open source) which was created by research institutions in Brazil.

EiTV Middleware is a commercial implementation of the Ginga specification developed by EiTV which is a company associated with the Forum of the Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV. It allows the applications transmitted by the TV stations to run on equipment from different manufacturers and models. This is possible because both applications such as middleware are following a set of ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards) standards which guide the Brazilian Digital TV (ABNT NBR 15606).

EiTV Middleware implementation is compatible with all kinds of Digital TV signal receiver equipment such as televisions, digital converters, pocket TVs, mobile phones, computer USB dongles, GPS devices, among others. The devices that have EiTV Middleware integrated are able to use the DTVi seal, which ensures compatibility with the technical standards published by ABNT. To use the DTVi seal, the manufacturer of the equipment which EiTV Middleware is integrated must be affiliated with SBTVD Forum.

Architecture

The architecture of EiTV Middleware is represented by the diagram below:

The Application Manager controls the high level application life cicle and communicates with the DSM-CC (data/object carousel), with the NCL Formatter and with the JVM (Java Virtual Machine).

NCL applications communicate with middleware through the NCL/LUA API.

Java applications communicate with middleware through Java DTV API.