Information access in user model-based interactive television

• US 20020184351A1
• Filed: 06/28/2001
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Digeo Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Digeo Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Istvan, Anthony F., Broadus, James C.
• Application Number:
  US09/895,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20020184351A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26613 for generating or managing keys in general key distribution for secret or secure communication involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP] H04L9/083; network support of key management H04L63/06; key management for network security in communication control or processing H04W12/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4433 Implementing client middleware, e.g. Multimedia Home Platform [MHP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47805 Electronic banking banking in general G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 : Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 : Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems

Abstract

A user model for interactive television systems organizes access devices into households, with each access device in a household being logical extensions of each other. Each household can have multiple user objects, with each user object having its own independent configuration of attributes and data. Other access devices (if any) in the household automatically receive the configuration information of a new or reconfigured user object without any further action by the user. When a user adds a new access device to the household, the new access device automatically receives the configuration information of user objects already existing in the household, without any further action by the user.

Claims

1. A method of controlling access to content in a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the method comprising:

receiving configuration information related to a user object from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices, the configuration information defining multimedia content that can be accessed by instantiating the user object in an access device; and

providing the received configuration information to another access device of the plurality of access devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving revised configuration information related to the user object via an access device of the plurality of access devices and providing the received revised configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving configuration information related to a plurality of user objects via one or more of the access devices of the plurality of access devices and providing the configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising assigning a ticket number to the revised configuration information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing the ticket number in a revision history in the multimedia communication network system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the revision history is stored in a server of the multimedia communication network system.

7. A control system of controlling access to content in a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the control system comprising:

means for receiving configuration information related to a user object from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices, the configuration information defining multimedia content that can be accessed by instantiating the user object in an access device; and

means for providing the received configuration information to another access device of the plurality of access devices.

8. The control system of claim 7, further comprising means for receiving revised configuration information related to the user object via an access device of the plurality of access devices and for providing the received revised configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

9. The control system claim 7, further comprising means for receiving configuration information related to a plurality of user objects via one or more of the access devices of the plurality of access devices and for providing the configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

10. The control system of claim 9, further comprising means for assigning a ticket number to the revised configuration information.

11. The control system of claim 10, further comprising a revision history for storing the ticket number.

12. The control system of claim 11, wherein the revision history is stored in a server of the multimedia communication network system.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise receiving revised configuration information related to the user object via an access device of the plurality of access devices and providing the received revised configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise receiving configuration information related to a plurality of user objects via one or more of the access devices of the plurality of access devices and providing the configuration information to all of the access devices of the plurality of access devices.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise assigning a ticket number to the revised configuration information.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise storing the ticket number in a revision history stored in the machine- readable medium.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

setting a bit in a bit vector, the bit vector having a plurality of bits each being associated to a corresponding configuration parameter of the user object;

wherein the set bit indicates the configuration parameter associated with the received configuration information; and

providing the bit vector to the access device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the revision history has a fixed size.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing the portion of the configuration information to a second access device of the plurality of access devices.

13. A machine-readable medium for use in a multimedia communication network having a plurality of access devices, the machine-readable medium containing instructions, the instructions when executed by a machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving configuration information related to a user object from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices, the configuration information defining multimedia content that can be accessed by instantiating the user object in an access device; and

providing the received configuration information to another access device of the plurality of access devices.

18. A method of providing configuration information related to user object of a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the method comprising:

receiving a portion of the configuration information related from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices;

assigning a ticket number to the received portion of the configuration information;

storing the ticket number in a revision history; and

providing the ticket number to the access device.

22. An update system for providing configuration information related to user object of a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices and a revision history, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the method comprising:

means for receiving a portion of the configuration information related from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices;

means for assigning a ticket number to the received portion of the configuration information;

means for storing the ticket number in the revision history; and

providing the ticket number to the access device.

23. The update system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for setting a bit in a bit vector, the bit vector having a plurality of bits each being associated to a corresponding configuration parameter of the user object;

wherein the set bit indicates the configuration parameter associated with the received configuration information; and

means for providing the bit vector to the access device.

24. The update system of claim 22, wherein the revision history has a fixed size.

25. The update system of claim 22, further comprising means for providing the portion of the configuration information to a second access device of the plurality of access devices.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the operations further comprise:

setting a bit in a bit vector, the bit vector having a plurality of bits each being associated to a corresponding configuration parameter of the user object;

wherein the set bit indicates the configuration parameter associated with the received configuration information; and

providing the bit vector to the access device.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the revision history has a fixed size.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the operations further comprise providing the portion of the configuration information to a second access device of the plurality of access devices.

26. A machine-readable medium for use in a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the machine-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a portion of the configuration information related from a user via an access device of the plurality of access devices;

assigning a ticket number to the received portion of the configuration information;

storing the ticket number in a revision history; and

providing the ticket number to the access device.

30. A method of providing updated configuration information related to user object of a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the system including a revision history configured to store identifiers and bit vectors associated with updates to the configuration information related to the user object, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier from an access device of the plurality of access devices;

determining an update vector as a function of the received identifier and any identifiers in the revision history that are more recent than the ticket number; and

providing the update vector to the access device.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising providing a portion of updated configuration information to the access device at the request of the access device, wherein the access generates the request in response to the update vector.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising providing to the access device the most recent identifier of the identifiers used in determining the update vector.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein determining the update vector further comprises generating the update vector as a function of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent than the received identifier.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the function of the bit vectors comprises the logical-OR of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent that the received identifier.

36. The machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the operations further comprise providing a portion of updated configuration information to the access device at the request of the access device, wherein the access generates the request in response to the update vector.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the operations further comprise providing to the access device the most recent identifier of the identifiers used in determining the update vector.

38. The machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the operation of determining the update vector further comprises an operation of generating the update vector as a function of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent than the received identifier.

39. The machine-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the function of the bit vectors comprises the logical-OR of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent that the received identifier.

35. A machine-readable medium for use in a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the system including a revision history configured to store identifiers and bit vectors associated with updates to the configuration information related to the user object, the machine-readable medium providing instructions that when executed by a machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving an identifier from an access device of the plurality of access devices;

determining an update vector as a function of the received identifier and any identifiers in the revision history that are more recent than the ticket number; and

providing the update vector to the access device.

40. An update system for providing updated configuration information related to user object of a multimedia communication network system having a plurality of access devices, the configuration information including values for a plurality of configuration parameters, the multimedia communication network system including a revision history configured to store identifiers and bit vectors associated with updates to the configuration information related to the user object, the update system comprising:

means for receiving an identifier from an access device of the plurality of access devices;

means for determining an update vector as a function of the received identifier and any identifiers in the revision history that are more recent than the ticket number; and

means for providing the update vector to the access device.

41. The update system of claim 40, further comprising means for providing to the access device the most recent identifier of the identifiers used by the means for determining in determining the update vector.

42. The update system of claim 40, further comprising means for providing a portion of updated configuration information to the access device at the request of the access device, wherein the access generates the request in response to the update vector.

43. The update system of claim 40, wherein the means for determining the update vector further comprises means for generating the update vector as a function of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent than the received identifier.

44. The update system of claim 43, wherein the function of the bit vectors comprises the logical-OR of the bit vectors associated with the identifiers that are more recent that the received identifier.