Glossary of CAS related terms
Conditional access system: The complete system
of ensuring broadcast services is only accessible to those who are
entitled to use them. It consists of scrambling, encryption of electronic
'keys' needed by the viewer and the subscriber management system
to ensure viewers entitled to watch scrambled programmes may do
so.
Algorithm: The mathematical process that is used
to scramble and descramble a signal. The algorithm used is what
makes a particular system unique as well as providing security to
it.
Bouquet: A collection of services marketed as
a single entity.
Descrambling: The process of undoing the scrambling
to yield intelligible pictures and sound.
Electronic Key: A term used to describe data signals
used to control the descrambling process in the decoder. The data
is transmitted along with the broadcast signal and must be correctly
decrypted to view the programmes.
Encryption: The method of processing continually
changing electronic keys needed to descramble broadcast signals
so that the can be securely conveyed to authorized
users.
Control Word: The key used in the descrambler.
Period subscription: A method of payment in which
the viewer subscribes to a channel for a calendar period e.g.: yearly/quarterly/monthly
Piracy: Unauthorized access to controlled programmes.
Scrambling: The method of continuously changing the nature of the
broadcast signal so that without a suitable decoder and electronic
key, the signal is unintelligible.
Open Architecture CAS: On the lines of the global
standards of the GSM based cellular phone business. Subscribers
keep their standardized set-top box and only replace the CAS with
a module from a different operator (similar to a SIM card in Mobiles).
Service providers need to invest in the development of products
that are guaranteed to be compatible with all networks and suppliers
of content on those networks.
Proprietary Architecture CAS: Here the service
provider specifies the kind of STB that an end user would need to
access his services. Different operators would be endorsing different
CA systems. Hence, for a consumer to access the services of more
than one operator, he would need to invest in more than one STB.
However, there are protocols by which, different proprietary systems
could interact with each other.
Subscriber Management System (SMS): The system
which creates bills for subscribers. An important resource of the
Subscriber Management System is a database of infromation about
the subscribers, the serial numbers of the decoders and information
about the services to which they have subscribed. In commercial
terms, this information is highly sensitive.
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