Overview

Conax Contego is a TV platform that streams content to Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and Over the Top (OTT) based subscriptions.

CRM.COM provides a ready-made implementation of Conax Contego Web Services Protocol, using the Conax Contego Web Services Provisioning module, which is primarily responsible for handling the activation and deactivation of signals transmitted to devices.

Major features

• Integration to Conax Contego 7.5 Web Services.
• Activation and deactivation of subscriptions is handled at real-time.
• Option to manage subscriptions out of sync through a batch process or through a utility for a single subscription.
• Send messages to all subscriber devices which can be displayed on the screen (OSM) or available in the device inbox.
• Detect piracy by sending a fingerprint to all subscribers, to detect illegal usage or ones that are not abiding by the contract agreement.
• Usage of utilities to handle one subscription at a time:
  • Synchronize subscription information on the CAS/OTT side (new or deleted services, activate or deactivate services).
  • Send a message to the subscriber device which can be displayed on the screen (OSM) or available in the device inbox.
  • Detect piracy by sending a fingerprint to all subscribers, to detect illegal usage or ones that are not abiding by the contract agreement.
  • Get information of how the subscription is on the CAS/OTT side, such as the device serial number, the services/channels that are activated etc.
  • Pair or un-pair devices such as a decoder and a smartcard.
  • Reset PIN on subscriber's device.

Using Conax Contego Web Services

• Conax Contego Web Services implementation submits requests on Conax Contego system at real-time
  • Subscription actions update subscription provisioning state in CRM.COM and if associated with a change that should be also executed in CONAX,  a request is constructed using Conax commands and sent to Conax.
• Subscription changes taking place during a downtime of Conax system, or any other communication issues between CRM.COM and Conax, a reset run is available that can identify all subscriptions that require update, construct a request using Conax commands and send to Conax.

Setting Up Conax Contego Web Services

Provisioning Provider

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Related configuration areas

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Handling Subscriptions Through Batch Processes

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Sending mail & bark messages

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The table describes the sections of Mail and Bark Messages Run Definition Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.

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Input Settings 

Message Type:

• Mail Message (Maximum number of characters 141)
• Bark Message (Maximum number of characters 129)
• Repeating Bark Message (Maximum number of characters 129)

Communication Queue External System: The Communication Queue External System that will be used to identify which 'Pending' communications must be processed by the run.

Start Indication Date Time: Defines the date and time on which the message should be shown to the subscribers.

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Sending fingerprinting

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The table describes the sections of Fingerprinting Run Definition Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.

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Handling a Subscription Through a Utility

Utilities used to handle specified subscriptions.

Reset single subscription

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Get conax information

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Select the Type of the request and according to the type proceed by providing wither the smartcard or STB. The information retrieved depends on the Type of request, which can be one of the following:

• Get Active Subscriptions: Retrieves all the services which are 'Active' on that smartcard. The following information is presented to the user:
  • The service CA ID, Code, Description
• Get Pairing Status for Smartcard: Retrieves all the smartcards and STBs which are paired with the specified smartcard. The following information is presented to the user:
  • Smartcard CA ID, STBs CA ID, serial number, product code , product description
• Get Pairing Status for STB: Retrieves all the smartcards and STBs which are paired with the specified STB. The following information is presented to the user:
  • Smartcard CA ID, STBs CA ID , serial number, product code , product description ,

Display fingerprinting

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Provide the information required by the utility and submit. 

Pair smartcards & STBs

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Through the utility the following options are available:

New: If selected, a request of type Create Pairing is created and the smartcard and STB to be paired are specified. If the smartcard is already paired with another STB then it is cancelled.

When 'New' Type is selected then the smartcard on which the additional pairing will be done must be selected as well as the new smartcard and STB to be paired must be defined. On selecting the items the system provides you information associated to their current status and location

Update: If selected, a request of type Add to Existing Pairing is created. The smartcard that identifies the existing pair is specified as well as the smartcard and STB to be added to the pairing. This enables the pairing of multiple Smartcards and STBs.

When 'Update' Type is selected then the smartcard and the STB to be paired must be defined. On selecting the items the system provides you information associated to their current status and location.

Reset smartcard PIN

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Define the smartcard on which the reset will be performed. If you are resetting to a 'New Value' then you must also provide the new PIN, else the new PIN is reset to '1234'

Send mail & bark messages

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Start by selecting the Type of text to be sent and provide the rest of the required information Unlike Message Runs, no Communication is related to messages that are sent through the utility as the text to be included in the message is provided through the utility.

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The table below displays the CRM.COM processes and actions that trigger each Conax command (a request) as well as the parameters sent for each request.

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Conax Contego WEB Services Command

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Command Parameters

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Activates subscription services

• Become subscriber

• Activate subscription

• Change subscription distribution (services added to new distributor)

• End short term deactivation

• Short term activation

• End subscription resting

CRM.COM Service Actions

• Swap installed item (to add new services)

• Start service

• Regret (Swap)

• Swap service

• Add service

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with The subscription service
• The subscription service CA ID
• The related smartcard CA ID

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Deactivates subscription services

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Conax Contego Web APIs

CRM.COM Subscription Actions

• Deactivate subscription
• Terminate subscription
• Rest subscription
• End short term activation
• Short term deactivation

CRM.COM Service Actions

• Swap service
• Regret (Swap)
• Remove service
• Stop service
• Swap installed item (to cancel services)
• Change subscription distribution (services and installed items removed from old distributor)

CRM.COM Installed Item Actions

• Remove installed item
• Swap installed item (to remove old)
  

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with The subscription service
• The subscription service CA ID
• The related smartcard CA ID

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Conax Contego Web APIs

Pair Smartcards & STBs utility

CRM.COM Subscription Actions

• Become subscriber

• Activate subscription

• Change subscription distribution (services added to new distributor)

• End short term deactivation

• Short term activation

• End subscription resting

• Change subscription distribution (new item added to new distributor / old item removed from old)

CRM.COM Installed Item Actions

• Add installed item
• Swap installed item (to add new)

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• One or more of the following:
  • The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
  • The related smartcard CA ID
• One or more of the following:
  • The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the STB 
    (if applicable)
  • The related STB CA ID

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Conax Contego Web APIs

Pair Smartcards & STBs utility

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard which is already paired (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID which is already paired
  • One or more of the following:
    • The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard to be added in the pairing (if applicable)
    • The related smartcard CA ID to be added in the pairing
  • One or more of the following:
    • The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the STB to be added in the pairing  (if applicable)
    • The related STB CA ID to be added in the pairing

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Conax Information utility

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID

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Pair Smartcards & STBs utility

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the STB 
  (if applicable)
• The related STB CA ID

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Mail & Bark Messages utility

Mail & Bark Message run

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID
• The message that is sent to the subscriber
• The start indication date time
• The communication queue number that was processed by this Provisioning Request (if applicable)

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Mail & Bark Messages utility

Mail & Bark Message run

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID
• The message that is sent to the subscriber
• The start indication date time
• The display duration in seconds
• The communication queue number that was processed by this Provisioning Request (if applicable)

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Mail & Bark Messages utility

Mail & Bark Message run

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID
• The message that is sent to the subscriber
• The start indication date time
• The display duration in seconds
• The repetition count
• The repetition interval in seconds
• The Communication Queue Number that was processed by this Provisioning Request (if applicable).

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DISPLAY_FINGERPRINT

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Check subscriber's devices for piracy

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Fingerprinting utility

Fingerprinting run

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID
• The display date time
• The display duration in seconds
• The position (X,Y)
• The Height
• The Fingerprint Slot

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Conax Contego Web APIs

Reset smartcard PIN utility

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable)
• The related smartcard CA ID 

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Conax Contego Web APIs

Reset smartcard PIN utility

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• The subscription provisioning distributor linked with the smartcard (if applicable) 
• The related smartcard CA ID  
• The new Pin Value

Conax Contego Web Services Business Examples

Subscription with multiple viewing points 

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Scenario 1

Company ZX offers to its customer's the option to have multiple viewing points per subscription. This enables its customers to have a separate box and card in each of the rooms, and choose between having the same channels or different channels available through boxes . The maximum number of viewing points that can be added to a subscription is 4.

Solution

For each set of box and card that will be made available to subscribers, CRM.COM must have a different provisioning distributor available, in order to set the channel availability and restrictions per box.

In order to support this, the following distributors must be set up in the Provisioning Provider.

• Main
• TWIN1
• TWIN2
• TWIN3

Provisioning of flexible and fixed bundle products

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Scenario 2

Company ZX offers its customers, flexible and fixed bundle products as well as single channels . Subscribers can request to switch between the available product offerings at any time. It is required that the agents can view the requests that are being sent, to ensure that the signals are provisioned to the customers.

Solution

Consider the following provisioning mapping:

• Components of Flexible Bundle A
  • Geological CA ID = GFA1
  • Entertain CA ID = EFA2
• Components of Flexible Bundle B
  • Religion CA ID = RFB1
  • Baby Channel CA ID = BFB2
• Flat Products
  • Agriculture CA ID = AF1

Example 1: Provisioning of a Flexible Bundle

On provisioning a Flexible Bundle A, having Geological and Entertain, the following requests will be sent:

• 1 Create Pairing (Smartcard and Decoder)
• 2 Add Subscriptions ( Gold and Silver)
  • CA ID=GFA1 which represents the Geological channel
  • CA ID=PFA2 which represents the Entertain channel

Example 2: On swapping from Flexible Bundle to a flat product

On swapping Flexible Bundle A, to Agriculture the following requests will be sent:

• 1 Add Subscription  
  • CA ID = AF1 which represents the Flat product channel
• 2 Cancel Subscriptions
  • CA ID=GFA1 which represents the Geological channel
  • CA ID=PFA2 which represents the Entertain channel

Example 3: On upgrading the Flexible Bundle A to Flexible Bundle B with Geological and Religion

On upgrading from one Flexible Bundle to the other the following Requests will be sent:

• 2 Add Subscription
  • CA ID = RFB1 which represents the Religion channel
  • CA ID = BFB2 which represents the Baby Channel
• 2 Cancel Subscriptions
  • CA ID=GFA1 which represents the Geological channel
  • CA ID=EFA2 which represents the Entertain channel

Send mail messages to subscriber's box

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Scenario 3

Company ZX would like to send personalised messages to its subscribers, that will be directly accessible via their Set-Top Boxes (STBs). Specifically, it wants to be able to send:

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Solution

Agents should use the "Mail & Bark Messages Utility" and the appropriate type for each of the above method of communication. The agents should type the message that they would like to send to the subscriber.

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Overview

Conax Contego is a TV platform that streams content to digital video broadcasting (DVB), internet protocol television (IPTV) and over-the-top (OTT) based subscriptions.

CRM.COM provides a ready-made implementation of the Conax Contego Subscriptions Management System (SMS) Services protocol and uses the Conax Contego SMS Services provisioning module, which primarily handles the activation and deactivation of signals transmitted to devices.  The module can also be used to send messages to subscribers through their devices. 

Major features

• Integration with Conax Contego 2.0 SMS.
• Simultaneous activation and deactivation of multiple subscriptions.
• Logging and review of errors from the CRM.COM software.
• Ability to message multiple subscribers at once.
• Utilities can be used to manage individual subscriptions (e.g., to pair devices or send messages).
• Archiving of former provisioning requests (refer to Utilities for more information).

Using Conax Contego SMS Services

• The Conax Contego SMS Services implementation submits requests on the Conax Contego system asynchronously using FTP.
  • Subscription actions update the subscription provisioning state.
  • Provisioning request runs identify the subscriptions whose provisioning state must be updated in CONAX Contego system and create 'Pending' requests.
  • 'Pending' CRM.COM requests are grouped together in a file that is subsequently transferred to CONAX Contego system through FTP to be processed. 
• Conax uses 'Error Handling' runs to provide CRM.COM with 'Accepted' or 'Rejected' requests.  CRM.COM subscriptions are subsequently updated accordingly.

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Setting Up Conax Contego SMS Services

Provisioning provider

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Related configuration areas

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Using Batch Processes to Handle Subscriptions

Processing provisioning requests

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Handling rejected requests 

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Provisioning requests resulting from the provisioning processing run are sent to Conax through FTP, in a 'Pending' life cycle state. 

Once updated, Conax responds to CRM.COM, reporting whether each request was rejected or failed. CRM.COM is subsequently synchronized to Conax Contego. 

The responses are handled by 'error handling file runs', which in case of an error in Conax, revert changes on subscriptions.

Error handling file runs are created through the error handling files run definition, once it is submitted.

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Sending mail & bark messages

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The table describes the sections of the mail and bark messages run definition Data Entry page and explains how the fields in the page are used.

 Mandatory   Configurable

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Using Utilities to Handle a Subscription

Utilities are used to handle one subscription at a time.

Pairing smartcards and set-top boxes (STB)

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Specify the smartcard and STB that should be paired. If the selected smartcard and STB are already paired, then the pair is automatically loaded. Set the Priority to 'Express', so that Conax handles the pairing as soon as possible.

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Sending mail & bark messages

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Provide the required information, starting with the type of message to be sent.  

There is no related Communication as the message text is provided through the utility (unlike message runs).

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Anchor
commands commands

Conax Contego SMS Requests

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The table below displays the CRM.COM processes that trigger Conax Contego SMS requests, as well as the parameters sent for each request.

Activation and deactivation commands are not directly triggered by the execution of subscription actions.  

Once the 'provisioning request processing run definition' is executed, system conditions available under the Trigger Logic column must be met, in order for the respective Conax Contego command to be created.

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Conax Contego SMS Services Business Examples

Subscriptions with multiple viewing points 

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Sending mail messages to subscriber boxes