Oregan Highlights Integrated Multimedia Search as Key Feature of Oregan Media Browser 4.0 for Living Room AV Consumer Electronics

LONDON — Oregan Networks, an embedded Internet technology company, has announced the imminent availability and key innovation concepts of its Oregan Media Browser 4.0. The release addresses the main challenges of TV-centric Internet on mainstream non-PC consumer electronics: namely the speed of applications and ease of media access, with primary focus on audiovisual content consumption use cases.

With the new version of its software, Oregan introduces the concept of integrated media search via its ‘intelligent’ cross-platform TV browser, which extends the notion of browsing beyond the traditional information-centric and Internet-based search. Integrated search enables TV viewers to have immediate access to desired content via a single TV screen application that reaches multimedia and associated metadata from multiple sources, including broadcast Electronic Program Guide data, content stored on home PCs and NAS devices, recorded broadcast libraries, personal mobile devices and on-demand Internet video. Behind the scenes, Oregan’s media player framework gathers information about media files, such as content description and media type, then subsequently controls playback of the selected audiovisual content. The feature can be applied by service operators and CE vendors in a controlled walled-garden environment, with predefined content sources, filters and recommendations in line with user profiles and parental guidance restrictions.

Private demonstrations of Oregan’s vision at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 featured a television program guide as the ultimate content aggregation, search and browsing application, which made multi-source entertainment available to the user via a single TV user interface powered by HTML and AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) standards.

Oregan Media Browser 4.0 is designed as an open client-side platform for delivery of premium and user-generated content on resource-constrained CE devices, which aims to consolidate Internet content brands and CE manufacturers behind a cross-platform, standards-based approach to implementation of any-time content services. In an effort to simplify product design and collaboration of brands, Oregan continues its initiative in building partnerships with leading Internet content aggregation and services companies in US, Europe and APAC.

Mark G Perry, Oregan’s CEO said, ‘Browsing on TV evokes a healthy degree of scepticism, raising the question of desirability of browsing from the sofa, in the so-called 10-foot User Interface environment. Oregan Media Browser 4.0 is the Internet access technology that aims to eliminate usability and speed snags of Internet on TV and give a powerful reason to cable, satellite, mobile network operators and CE brands alike to weave Internet services into their future service offerings. This product is significant in the history of Internet on TV as it changes the dynamics of Internet browsing by zooming into programming delivery and media search capabilities. Instead of being confined to the information medium – it becomes the domain of entertainment, finding its way into living rooms and delivering instant user gratification.’

Oregan Media Browser is based on leading industry standards, including W3C and CEA-2014 guidelines, for browsing and streaming of digital media, making it the network entertainment access application that meets the needs of all stakeholders within the content delivery value chain, including web interface developers, content aggregation services and device manufacturers.

The living room devices demonstrated by Oregan at CES 2008, included connected TVs, Broadcast and IP Set Top Boxes, Digital Media Adapters and Hybrid Media Gateways. The company plans to announce a complete list of features and offer evaluation versions of Oregan Media Browser 4.0 in Q2-2008.