Digital Set-Top-Boxes are used to receive and decode digital television signals to suit the standard television set. It is envisioned that in the near future hundreds of television channels will be available in digital form. Electronic program guides based on program specific information are supposed to assist the viewer to find interesting programs.

However, navigation through the channels is only one aspect of television usage. Other, even more tedious task is the programmed recording of chosen programs. Teleshopping is another area where customer operations need to be intelligently organized. These are tasks that are suitable for agentification.

Title management

-keeps track of preferred programs

-records automatically preferred programs

-keeps track of archive content

-keeps track of what has been seen, when

-gives recommendations for viewing when requested by theme

-shows the cost of the selected title if pay-per-view

-keeps track of accumulated expenditure

-deletes titles from archive by command

-automatic editing, records only interesting content

News management

-records automatically latest news by interest profile

-sorts and indexes news

Teleshopping management

-finds vendors for requested goods

-compares pricing, locates bargains

Requirements

-Access to program specific information

-Access to UTC

-Large storage media (rerecordable CD, EPROM, hard disks, etc. add-on units)

-Security functions, user identification (teleshopping, parental control, pay-per view etc)