TPEG - Transport Protocol Experts Group
B/TPEG: In the beginning ...
The TPEG activity was originally named with a double entendre for the word “Transport”: to convey the concept of carrying data and because work initially focussed on Traffic and Travel Information data delivery.
The EBU Broadcast Management Committee commissioned a Group, called B/TPEG, to undertake the open development of this technology in 1998 and the first phase of work was completed in 2002, with the publication of EBU Blue Books specifying Binary applications. These were followed by XML mapped-application specifications in 2004. The work then progressed into International Standardisation with the publication of two series of CEN ISO/TS in 2006 – replacing the earlier EBU Blue Books.
The B/TPEG Group - comprising broadcasting, electronics and IT, media and TTI industries - worked under the EBU open specifications policy.
TPEG technology was developed to facilitate the delivery of information messages within the multimedia broadcasting environment from a service provider’s database to an end-users client device. The key underlying principle of TPEG technology requires hierarchically structured messages to be delivered to client devices for to decoding and filtering the content to provide language independent presentation either directly for human use, or for agent systems. It was foreseen that many applications could be developed over time to suit various service provision needs, not necessarily in the TTI domain. Simultaneous delivery of messages by various bearers, with minimal adaptation to the bearers is another key to the success of TPEG technology.
Latterly, in parallel for three years with the B/TPEG work, the “TPEG Project” undertook validation of the technology and completed its work in 2003, including on-air testing.
TPEG Standards
TPEG Binary - originally developed for Digital Radio in CEN/ISO TS 18234-Series.
tpegML - developed for Internet bearers & message generation using XML in CEN/ISO TS 24530-Series.
These may be obtained from ISO or National Standards Organisations. CEN does not sell Technical Specifications (CEN TS) directly, however they are on sale from their National Members