From: "Patrick Sansonetti" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: 9/25/2006 4:34:02 PM
Subject: re: docket 060512129-6129-01

Mr. Milton Brown
Office of the Chief Counsel
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, Room 4713
Washington, DC 20230
(202) 501-8013 (fax)
[email protected]

Re: Docket 060512129-6129-01

Dear Mr. Brown,

UpdateLogic is a three year old software technology company based in
Southborough, Massachusetts.

UpdateLogic respectfully requests that NTIA require the Digital-to-Analog
"converter boxes" to be capable of receiving software updates from an
"over-the-air" terrestrial broadcast distribution service.

The converter boxes are a key component of the Digital-to-Analog transition,
but the proposed NTIA specifications are out of step with consumer
electronics reality. The converter boxes are essentially small computers
which contain a set of software programs; software that has bugs and needs
updates. From PCs to cell phones to ATMs, routine and multiple software
upgrades have been installed to fix errors, improve quality, and maintain
functionality. The converter box will be no different.

The impact of one or more software bugs in the converter box could reduce
performance, freeze out some channels, or cause a complete system crash.
The software also controls the V-chip, emergency alert system, and closed
captioning in the box. If something goes wrong with the converter box
software, the digital television transition and all the legislative effort
to create it may be compromised.

Converter boxes can be enabled with the ability to receive software updates
by way of an over-the-air download mechanism as is done in comparable
devices in many other countries. Over-the-air downloads can fix software
errors before consumers are even aware of them and without any action by the
consumer. Installing an over-the-air feature in a converter box costs
significantly less than $1 per converter box and is easy for the
manufacturer to include in the device.

NTIA should not spend $1.5 billion on converter boxes without including this
feature. Furthermore, because consumer equipment manufacturers will build
the converter box to meet the narrowest interpretation of the specification
to qualify for the coupon, the NTIA rules must mandate such an over-the-air
update feature.

It is wholly insufficient to say the market will take care of this issue.
Normal tradeoff calculations by manufacturers of the costs to support a
product do not apply here. The device that qualifies for the coupon is
heading towards being a throw away item. It need only work long enough so
that it is not returned to the retail store within a very short period after
purchase. Hence the less fortunate consumer, who cannot afford a higher end
device with good product support (including over the air download
capability), will be stuck with an unsupported converter box. NTIA must
mandate that these converter boxes contain software update capability.
Without the mandate, the consumer will suffer and the government which
designed, funded and sponsored the converter box will be blamed.

No one can predict what will happen with a new product and its new software.
But there are certainly historical indications of the need for NTIA to
require that converter boxes have the ability to receive software updates to
correct problems. Here are a few software problems that have already
occurred in consumer electronic devices in the US market which very similar
to the converter box:

* In 2006, a software bug in two types of digital televisions after
1200 hours of use suddenly prevented the devices from powering off (unless
the consumer completely unplugged the devices). The internal "clock"
interfered with the software-controlled on-off switch.
* In 2005, a supplier of components for satellite digital television
receivers (devices which are comparable to the converter box) accidentally
shipped a hardware and software platform to a satellite set-top box vendor
for mass production which did not have close captioning working at all. A
software update, delivered over-the-air via the satellite network, was sent
out after units were sold to the consumers.
* In 2004, a supplier of components for digital TV devices reported a
bug in their software which caused the TV to freeze if the consumer was
watching a channel which had a program shown at 720p resolution, then
switched to another channel with a program at 480i, then switched back to
the 720p content.
* In 2003, one manufacturer's digital television device experienced a
software problem with closed captioning from several different digital
terrestrial broadcast stations. The software problem caused the devices to
freeze.

Imagine the economic, logistical, and political nightmare which would occur
if these converter boxes fail to operate because of a simple software error.
What if the software bug required a total recall of the device? The NTIA
should take steps to avoid failure of the Digital-to-Analog transition where
feasible. Software errors are easy to fix using an over-the-air download
system. Here are a few other potential problems related to software
errors:

* Terrestrial over-the-air television transmissions are spotty and
sometimes unreliable. Reception levels change constantly and are affected
by controllable factors (station wattage, antenna size/direction, etc.) and
uncontrollable factors (weather, interference from other sources, etc.).
Inside the converter box is a digital tuner which is controlled and
configured by software. Given the dynamic and different environments which
the converter boxes will be deployed (basements, boats, dorm rooms,
tailgates, beaches, sheds, etc.where antenna TVs are located) it is not
possible to test all levels of broadcast strength, frequency, and types. If
the tuner software is unable to process the content it receives, it may
"freeze" and in doing so "freeze" the entire device and produce a blank
screen. Imagine the frustration level of the consumer whose analog TV was
able to receive and display the analog terrestrial broadcast in the same
location before the government imposed this digital transition!
* To date, very few people have watched digital terrestrial content
broadcast. The 14 million digital television devices which exist in the US
market today are high-end, large size television sets. These sets are
typically connected to a digital cable box or digital satellite box and they
do not receive the digital terrestrial broadcast. Even within this small
exposure, the industry has experienced many problems with the digital
terrestrial broadcast. As some of the consumer market is "forced" by the
federal government to receive its television content from a digital
terrestrial source, more and more people will receive digital terrestrial
signals and more problems will be exposed. Thus, issues are likely to be
discovered as the millions of converter boxes are deployed and used.
* The converter box is going to be sold and distributed in massive
volume in short period of time around the analog shut off date. Typically a
consumer electronics manufacturer realizes a software bug in the first few
months of a product's life cycle when only a small number of devices have
shipped. The manufacturer can address the small quantity of sold units and
fix the others still in the warehouses without too much cost or hassle. In
the case of the converter box, the first few months might result in millions
of units shipped. Fixing all of these deployed units located in consumer
homes throughout the country will have substantial costs. Using an
automatic over-the-air update service will help to reduce costs should this
situation occur.
* Buggy or just out-of-date software can cause many on-going problems.
Software programs control everything inside the television device. However,
there are specific problems a software program could cause the converter
boxes to experience. Close captioning, emergency alert, and/or v-chip
parental control features are all driven by software. Typically these
features evolve and change over time.

* V-chip parental controls may have changes in ratings and the
possible addition of the educational/informational category.
* Emergency alert messages which come through digital broadcasts must
be decoded, unencrypted and displayed on the television set. Digital
distribution of messages over the emergency alert system (EAS) is still in
early stages and not really tested in mass. There is software within the
converter box for handling the EAS data. The modernization of the Emergency
Alerting System (now underway) will likely have changes in the data
standards that use it, such as the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol that has
had two versions in the last two years.
* If software inside the box does not work, or if the format and
structure of the v-chip rating or EAS message changes (by a standards change
such as the new OASIS Common Alerting Protocol) the EAS alert may not be
displayed.

Governments of other countries which have started the transition from analog
to digital terrestrial broadcasting have created the infrastructure
necessary to update the software inside the digital television devices. In
most cases, the government assisted and encouraged the use of over-the-air
bandwidth for delivery of software updates to the TV device. In many cases,
the government mandated that the devices be capable of receiving such an
update. These governments recognized the need for routine software updates
and took action to protect the consumers and create a smooth transition to
digital. Here are a few examples:

* In the UK, it is common to routinely deliver software updates to
devices. The industry consortium "Digital Television Group" administers the
Engineering Channel, which uses BBC television broadcast frequencies to
allow manufacturers to download software updates to receivers. See
http://griffin.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl. Service providers
such as Cabot Communications offer the technology to do so. See
http://www.cabot.co.uk <http://www.cabot.co.uk/> .
* In Japan, a government-organized consortium delivers over-the-air
updates to digital television devices using broadcast bandwidth from NHK.
See http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/publica/dayori-new/en/n-0012-1e.html and
http://www.arib.or.jp/english/index.html (the equivalent of the US ATSC A/97
specification).
* In Germany, as part of the so-called "Berlin-Brandenburg
switch-off", a summary report concluded that the capability of "downloading
new software through the air.is required" in all digital terrestrial
television receivers (including the German equivalent of the converter box).
See
http://www.digitallaw.net/switchoff/berlin_project_report.pdf#search='Digita
l%20Terrestrial%20Transmission%20Berlin%20Brandenburg'.

Two major Korean television manufacturers (LGE and Samsung) formally asked
the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), which was selected by the
US Government to control television standards in the United States, to
create a standard for downloading fixes and updates to any digital
television device. See attached letter. The letter started the creation of
the now completed ATSC A/97 standard. See
http://www.atsc.org/standards/a97.html.

As a result, the digital television industry has the ability to deliver
software updates to these converter boxes easily, inexpensively, and without
the need for consumer interaction. The ATSC A/97 standard provides the
guidelines and specifications for delivering software updates via
"over-the-air" broadcasts (also known as "datacasting"). Technology
compatible with the ATSC A/97 standard has already been developed and
successfully tested by our company (UpdateLogic), the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) and several digital television manufacturers. Other service
providers like UpdateLogic and/or television broadcast networks like PBS are
able to provide similar over-the-air datacasting services based on the open
ATSC standard.

UpdateLogic has been developing an over-the-air distribution system in the
US for digital television sets, most of which are connected to cable systems
or satellite systems. The same distribution system and technology can be
used for any digital television device, allowing UpdateLogic to offer a very
economical solution for the converter boxes. In July of 2006, UpdateLogic
successfully completed field test trials of the "UpdateTV" technology
service at select stations within the PBS network. Major consumer
electronics manufacturers participated in the field trial including Hitachi,
Samsung, and Sharp. The UpdateTV service will be commercially available in
2007 and therefore ready for manufacturers of converter boxes to use.

UpdateLogic suggests the NTIA include the following language in the rules
specifying the characteristics of a certified converter box:

. Receives software data downloads from an over-the-air terrestrial
broadcast, compatible with the ATSC A/97 standard, which repairs, fixes and
corrects errors or otherwise upgrades the pre-installed software.

NTIA needs to protect the consumers and the investment of taxpayer money in
the subsidy program by requiring the converter boxes to have the ability to
accept fixes for software problems. NTIA should require the capability to
fix software errors remotely using an over-the-air download service which
can be provided at a low cost and at minimal consumer inconvenience. The
NTIA should adopt best practices from the consumer industry and from other
countries to take precautions, especially where those precautions are easy
and inexpensive, to make sure the converter box works.

Best regards,

Russell Blair
CEO and President
UpdateLogic Inc.