SOFTWARE DOWNLOADING USING A TELEVISION BROADCAST CHANNEL
First Claim
1. A method for distributing information, comprising the steps of:
- receiving information at a receiver of a user from a distribution system having one or more communication channels for sending the information;
wherein select ones of the one or more communication channels are designated for the transmission of one or more discrete information data streams;
wherein the one or more discrete information data streams are received over the select ones of the one or more communication channels, each of the one or more discrete information data streams having a unique ID associated therewith, which unique ID for each of the one or more discrete information data streams is unique to a user;
the user associated with a monitoring interface of the user that is connected to the receiver, the unique ID associated with that user and a desired one of the one or more information data streams;
selecting, in the monitoring interface associated with the user, selected ones of the one or more discrete information data streams according to the respective unique IDs for download via the receiver; and
downloading the selected one or more discrete information data streams to a user storage device during the scheduled time for use by the user, the user storage device connected to the receiver through the monitoring interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A software distribution architecture having a television broadcast system as its infrastructure. Software from a software repository (1600) is mixed into a television broadcast system and transmitted into one or more selected channels at prescribed dates and times. An at-home subscriber, capable of receiving with a receiver (1608) the one or more select channels, switches to the one or more channels carrying the software distribution with a channel selector (1611). The subscriber, having programmed a controller (1616) with a programmer (1620) for the date, time, software ID, and channel of the software broadcast, then downloads the software package to a storage device (1622) for ultimate transfer to a PC (1624). A validation and accounting system (1628) then records the software download transaction and transmits this information over a PSTN (1632) to a provider accounting system (1630) such that the subscriber is billed for the software package which was downloaded.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for distributing information, comprising the steps of:
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receiving information at a receiver of a user from a distribution system having one or more communication channels for sending the information; wherein select ones of the one or more communication channels are designated for the transmission of one or more discrete information data streams; wherein the one or more discrete information data streams are received over the select ones of the one or more communication channels, each of the one or more discrete information data streams having a unique ID associated therewith, which unique ID for each of the one or more discrete information data streams is unique to a user; the user associated with a monitoring interface of the user that is connected to the receiver, the unique ID associated with that user and a desired one of the one or more information data streams; selecting, in the monitoring interface associated with the user, selected ones of the one or more discrete information data streams according to the respective unique IDs for download via the receiver; and downloading the selected one or more discrete information data streams to a user storage device during the scheduled time for use by the user, the user storage device connected to the receiver through the monitoring interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for distributing information, comprising:
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a distribution system having one or more communication channels for sending information to a receiver of a user; one or more discrete information data streams designated for transmission on select ones of said one or more communication channels, each of the one or more discrete information data streams having a unique ID associated therewith, and each of the unique IDs is unique to a user; and a user storage device associated with the user and connected to said receiver through a monitoring interface and said user storage device operable to store both one or more of the unique IDs associated with the user prior to downloading of the one or more discrete information data streams and, after downloading thereof, for storing said downloaded one or more discrete information data streams wherein each of said unique IDs stored in said user interface is stored there by the user; wherein said one or more discrete information data streams are transmitted over said select ones of said one or more communication channels, each of said one or more discrete information data streams having associated therewith the associated one of said unique IDs; and wherein said select ones of said one or more discrete information data streams are downloaded via said receiver to said monitoring interface for filtering the select ones of the one or more of the discrete software data streams according to said respective unique IDs. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification