METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING IMAGES TO CLIENT SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A method for communicating between a server system and client systems for image distribution, the method comprising:
- for each client system, receiving heartbeat communications on a periodic basis from that client system; and
upon receiving a heartbeat communication from a client system,identifying a response for the client system, the response being one of no action, send information, retrieve information, and execute a command;
setting a state of the client system in accordance with the identified response;
sending the identified response to the client system; and
upon receiving subsequent heartbeat communications from the client system, ensuring that the heartbeat communications is in accordance with the state of the client system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for distributing images for display by client systems. A distribution system includes an image server system that is connected to image client systems via a communications link, such as the Internet. The image server system is responsible for providing image packages to the image client systems and for collecting information from the image client systems. Each image client system periodically sends a heartbeat communication to the image server system. Upon receiving a heartbeat communication, the image server system determines the state of the image client system that sent the heartbeat communication and responds appropriately. The response may include instructions for the image client system to retrieve new images, to retrieve software updates, to send usage data, and so on.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method for communicating between a server system and client systems for image distribution, the method comprising:
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for each client system, receiving heartbeat communications on a periodic basis from that client system; and upon receiving a heartbeat communication from a client system, identifying a response for the client system, the response being one of no action, send information, retrieve information, and execute a command; setting a state of the client system in accordance with the identified response; sending the identified response to the client system; and upon receiving subsequent heartbeat communications from the client system, ensuring that the heartbeat communications is in accordance with the state of the client system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for communicating between a server system and client systems for image distribution, the method comprising:
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preparing packages of images to be distributed to client systems; and upon receiving a heartbeat communication from a client system, determining whether a prepared package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system; when it is determined that a prepared package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system, sending a response to the received heartbeat communication with an indication that a package of images is to be distributed; and when it is determined that a prepared package of images is not ready to be distributed to the client system, sending a response to the received heartbeat communication with an indication other than that a package of images is ready to be distributed. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method in a client system for communicating with an image distribution system, the method comprising:
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periodically sending to the image distribution system a heartbeat communication; receiving from the image distribution system a response to a heartbeat communication, the response indicating whether a package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system; when the response indicates that a package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system, retrieving the package of images from the image distribution system; and when the response does not indicate that a package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system, performing an action specified by the response. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An image distribution system comprising:
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means for preparing packages of images to be distributed to client systems; means for receiving heartbeat communications from client systems; means for sending a response to a received heartbeat communication with an indication of whether a prepared package of images is ready to be distributed to the client system that sent the received heartbeat communication; and means for sending a response to a received heartbeat communication with an indication of an action to be performed by the client system. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification