Introduction

This manual contains information on how to use Tata Elxsi Accelerator UI, which is an user interface for Video Accelerator devices.

Features

1. Live Video Playback
2. Playback Controls

3. Home screen UI with following options:

   1. Recommended Videos
   2. Premium Apps (YouTube, Amazon, Netflix)

   3. Metrological Apps

4. Video on Demand (VOD)

5. Bluetooth Settings

6. Volume Control

Set Up  

This section provides details on how the user can launch Tata Elxsi Accelerator UI by choosing either of the following 3 options:

1. Launch the pre-deployed Lightning UI on accelerator
2. Configure pre-deployed Accelerator UI as the default UI on STB boot up
3. Build the Lightning UI locally and launch on accelerator device  

Launch the pre-deployed Lightning UI on accelerator 

1. Pre-deployed url is available at http://52.86.253.230:8081/
2. Navigate to Thunder Controller UI (by giving IP address of device on browser)
3. Navigate to UX tab
4. Enter deployed url (http://52.86.253.230:8081/) in custom URL field and click ‘SET’.
5. The accelerator UI will get loaded on UX (web kit browser instance)

(Above figure shows the setting URL in the UX)  

Configure the pre-deployed Accelerator UI as the default UI on STB boot up 

Point RDK splash screen to the deployed URL of Accelerator Application. On boot up, Accelerator app will be launched immediately after displaying RDK Splash screen (Default video will be played on launching the Accelerator App)

Build the Accelerator UI and launch on accelerator 

How to build Accelerator UI code

1. Pre-requisites:

Installation of Node.js 10.x, npm and Lightning-CLI (reference)

2. Clone the Accelerator-UI project

git clone

3. Navigate to the project location in terminal

4. Run:  npm install

It downloads all the dependent packages.

5. lng build :  will create a standalone bundle that you can run in the browser.

6. lng serve :  will start a local webserver and run the App.

 The port information of the server will be shown in the terminal.

7. lng dev :  will build the App and start the webserver.

 Besides it watches for the changes while running the App.

Application will be up and running locally on local host (http://127.0.0.1:8080)

How to bring Accelerator UI on STB bootup

Follow steps mentioned in Launch the pre-deployed Lightning UI on accelerator to launch the locally deployed application (http://<IPaddress>:8080) on your Accelerator device.x

Follow steps mentioned in Configure the pre-deployed Accelerator UI as the default UI to configure your locally deployed application (http://<IPaddress>:8080) as the default UI on STB boot up

Keys Used for Navigation

Functional Specification

User Management

Live playback

Live video playback will be running by default on the screen.  Dash, HLS and MP4 format of videos are supported by the media player.

(The above figure shows an instance of video playback before the user launches the UI.)

Playback Controls

(The above figure shows the player control UI)

On pressing ‘Down Arrow’ key, Player control UI will be displayed. It has two rows of controls.

Following keys are used for navigation in Player control UI

Top row has following functionalities

Bottom row has following functionalities

Channel Information

Along with the Player control UI, channel name and channel logo also appear on top of the screen.

(The above figure shows the Network info appearing on the screen )

(The above figure shows an example of the Channel Info)

Network Information

Network information also appears along with the Player control UI. Time, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and weather information should appear on top right corner of the screen (functionality- to be implemented)

(The above figure shows the Network info appearing on the screen )

Accelerator UI

On pressing ‘Menu’ key from the live playback (or Backspace from keyboard), the Accelerator UI will get launched. Exiting from the UI at any stage is also done in the similar fashion by pressing ‘Menu/Backspace’ key.

(The above figure shows the launched Accelerator UI on the screen)

Home Screen

In the Accelerator UI that has launched, the user will be in Home screen by default.   On Pressing ‘Enter’ key from the home menu on Sidebar, the focus will be on Recommended for you.  Underneath Recommended for you, there are rows corresponding to Premium Apps and Metrological Apps. The user can navigate into various rows using Up- ‘Down Arrow’ keys.                                                             

Premium Apps

In the second row there is Premium Apps, in which three Apps are supported. The user can launch YouTube, Amazon and Netflix in supported platforms by pressing ‘OK /Enter’ key from the tiles.

Metrological Apps

Launching of all Applications in the third row is achieved by pressing ‘OK/Enter’ key from the tiles in Metrological Apps

Side Menu

On launching the Home screen, Side bar would be visible on the left-hand side of the screen which comprises of menu items like Home, TV guide, App, VOD and Settings. By pressing ‘Left Arrow’ key from Home screen, the Side Menu will expand.

If the user goes back to Player from any menu other than Home screen and then launch back using ‘Menu/Back Space’ key, then the application is not launched to the default screen (Home screen), instead it launches to the previous state.

Following keys are used to navigate in side menu:

Shrink view

(The above figure shows the Side Menu on launching the Home screen )

Expanded view

(The above figure shows the expanded Side Menu on pressing ‘Left Arrow’ key)

Info bar

 Information like Bluetooth & Wi-Fi connectivity, weather information and time are displayed in Info bar seen on the top right corner of the Home screen. InfoBar appears along with the launching of Player controls UI. This information status toggles with the logo, and once in every 2 mins logo is shown

TV Guide [To be Implemented]

For navigating into TV guide, press ‘Enter’ key from the TV guide menu on Sidebar and thus the TV guide UI appears.

Video on Demand

Navigate Down through the Side bar menu and press ‘Enter’ key on VOD and the VOD screen appears. On the top of the screen, the list of categories of videos will be available. Among them FOR YOU category will be highlighted.

Navigation through each category is possible by using ‘Left Arrow’ and ‘Right Arrow’ keys. Pressing ‘Enter’ key from any such categories will display the videos on that category as rows of tiles.

As shown in the above figure, tiles corresponding to the selected category will be displayed on the top. Only three rows of categories are supported by now. Pressing ‘Down Arrow’ key from entered category will navigate you to all rows and focus will be on ‘See All’ tile. Streaming of the video is initiated by pressing the ‘Enter’ key from the desired tile.

Following keys are used to navigate in VOD:

While navigating through VOD tiles, the description box showing the description about the video along with its   ratings and quality will appear at the bottom of each tile as shown in the figure. The cost of each video will be visible while that particular tile is on highlight but the purchase options are not yet implemented.