CONCURRENT INTERACTIVE TELEVISION FOR NETWORK CONNECTED DEVICES

• US 20100146544A1
• Filed: 12/10/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tanaka, Kenichiro, Lane, Azmee Carlton, Kono, Michimune, Aoki, Shigeru
• Granted Patent: US 9,021,522 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• 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 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed herein for processing iTV. A request to play a first interactive television signal at a first electronic device is received. A first virtual machine for processing the first interactive television signal is instantiated at the first electronic device. A first file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the first electronic device is accessed from non-volatile storage on the first electronic device. A request to play a second interactive television signal at a second electronic device that is communicatively coupled to the first electronic device is received. A second virtual machine for processing the second interactive television signal is instantiated at the first device. A second file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the second electronic device is stored in non-volatile storage on the first electronic device.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to play a first interactive television signal at a first electronic device;

instantiating a first virtual machine for processing the first interactive television signal, the virtual machine is instantiated at the first electronic device;

accessing a first file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the first electronic device, the first file is stored in non-volatile storage on the first electronic device;

receiving a request to play a second interactive television signal at a second electronic device, the second electronic device is communicatively coupled to the first electronic device;

instantiating a second virtual machine for processing the second interactive television signal, the second virtual machine is instantiated at the first electronic device; and

accessing a second file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the second electronic device, the second file is stored in non-volatile storage on the first electronic device.

2. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

processing the second interactive television signal with the second virtual machine; and

providing the processed second interactive television signal to the second electronic device.

3. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to store information associated with playing interactive television at the second electronic device; and

storing the information in the second file.

4. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a request to read information from the second file, the storing the information in the second file occurs during a first interactive television session and the request to read information from the second file occurs during a second interactive television session; and

reading information from the second file during the second interactive television session.

5. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second electronic device to perform an interactive action, the request received at the first electronic device;

providing the request to the second virtual machine.

6. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

forwarding information to a server associated with processing the request, the forwarding performed by the second virtual machine.

7. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first virtual machine includes a BML browser and the second virtual machine includes a BML browser.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

a processor coupled to the computer readable storage medium; and

a communication interface coupled to the processor;

the computer readable storage medium stores a plurality of files, each of the files includes information associated with playing interactive TV on a particular electronic device, the computer readable storage medium has instructions stored thereon which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to implement;

an interactive television platform; and

a virtual machine for processing interactive television signals;

the interactive television platform receives a request to play a first interactive television signal at an electronic device that is connected to the apparatus via the communication interface, the interactive television platform initializes a first instance of the virtual machine for processing the first interactive television signal; and

the first virtual machine accesses a first file of the plurality of files, the first file includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the first electronic device, the first virtual machine extracts interactive television content from the first interactive television signal, the interactive television content is provided to the first electronic device using the communication interface.

9. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the first virtual machine:

extracts a command from the first interactive television signal that requests that information associated with playing interactive television on the first electronic device be stored; and

stores the information associated with playing interactive television on the first electronic device in the first file.

10. An apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the first virtual machine:

extracts a command from a second interactive television signal that requests that previously stored information that is associated with playing interactive television on the first electronic device be accessed; and

reads the previously stored information from the first file.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein:

the interactive television platform receives a request from the second electronic device to perform an interactive action; and

the interactive television platform provides the request to the first virtual machine.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the first virtual machine forwards information to a server associated with processing the request.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the first virtual machine includes a BML browser.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the interactive television platform communicates with a plurality of electronic devices over a network connected to the communication interface, and the interactive television platform initializes a separate BML virtual machine for each of the plurality of electronic devices.

15. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to play a first interactive television signal at a first electronic device;

instantiating a first Broadcast Markup Language (BML) virtual machine for processing the first interactive television signal, the first BML virtual machine is instantiated at the first electronic device;

accessing a first file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the first electronic device, the first file is stored in non-volatile storage on the first electronic device;

extracting a first video signal and a first BML document from the first interactive television signal using the first BML virtual machine;

playing the first video signal and presenting the first BML document on the first electronic device;

receiving a request to play a second interactive television signal at a second electronic device, the second electronic device is coupled to the first electronic device via a communication link;

instantiating a second BML virtual machine for processing the second interactive television signal, the second BML virtual machine is instantiated at the first device;

accessing a second file that includes information associated with playing interactive TV on the second electronic device, the second file is stored in non-volatile storage on the first electronic device;

extracting a second video signal and a second BML document from the second interactive television signal using the second BML virtual machine; and

providing the second video signal and the second BML document to the second electronic device over the communication link, the providing the second video signal and the second BML document is performed while playing the first video signal and presenting the first BML document on the first electronic device.

16. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request to store information for the second electronic device; and

storing the information in the second file.

17. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a request to read the information for the second electronic device, the storing the information in the second file occurs during a first interactive television session and the request to read occurs during a second interactive television session; and

reading the information in the second file.

18. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second electronic device to perform an interactive action, the request received at the first electronic device;

providing the request to the second virtual machine.

19. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

forwarding information to a server associated with processing the request, the forwarding performed by the second virtual machine.

20. A machine implemented method as recited in claim 19, wherein the first virtual machine includes a BML browser and the second virtual machine includes a BML browser.