Apparatus for transmitting and receiving executable applications as for a multimedia system

• US 5,819,034 A
• Filed: 04/28/1994
• Issued: 10/06/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/1994
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Consumer Electronics Incorporated (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Delpuch, Alain, Joseph, Kuriacose, Jessup, Jr., Ansley Wayne, Dureau, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Bowler, Alyssa H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dzung C.
• Application Number:
  US08/233,908
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.05, 395/200.03, 395/200-201, 395/800, 395/200.09, 395/200.17, 395/612, 395/200.31, 395/800.28, 395/6-7, 364/DIG. 1, 364/705.05, 348/67, 348/8, 348/10, 348/12, 348/13, 348/3.1, 348/3.3, 455/4.2, 455/5.1, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.3, 386/46, 386/83
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26266 for determining content or additional data repetition rate, e.g. of a file in a DVB carousel according to its importance arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4351 involving reassembling additional data, e.g. rebuilding an executable program from recovered modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game

Abstract

A distributed computer system, as for transmitting and receiving executable multimedia applications, includes a source of a continuous data stream repetitively transfering data representing a distributed computing application and a client computer, receiving the data stream, for extracting the distributed computing application representative data from the data stream, and executing the extracted distributed computing application.

Claims

1. A distributed computer system comprising:

a source of a data stream providing a series of time division multiplexed packets, ones of which contain auxiliary data that represent a video program, and others of which represent a distributed computing application associated with said video program, and wherein said distributed computing application is repetitively transmitted independent of receiving client computer apparatus during times that said video program is transmitted;

a client computer, which includes a packet selector connected to said source for selecting and directing packets containing said auxiliary data representing said video program to a video signal processor and selecting and directing packets containing said associated distributed computing application to a further processor; and

said further processor including means to assemble said distributed computing application and execute said distributed computing application to form an interactive video program in which execution of said distributed computing application alters said video program.

2. The distributed computer system of claim 1 wherein said further processor includes a graphics adapter for creating graphical images and interactively combining said graphical images with said video program.

3. The distributed computer system of claim 1 wherein said video program is a television program and said further processor includes a graphics adapter for creating graphical images and interactively combining said graphical images with said television program.

4. The distributed computer system of claim 1 wherein said further processor includes a sound adapter for creating synthesized sound and interactively combining said synthesized sound with said video program.

5. The distributed computer system of claim 1 wherein said further processor includes memory for storing program controls and responsive thereto requests of said packet selector a code and/or data module from the data stream.

6. A distributed computer system comprising:

a source of a time division multiplexed packet signal including a plurality of distributed computing applications, each distributed computing application being repetitively transmitted independent of receiving client computer apparatus, and each of said distributed computing applications being in a form of a series of packets;

a first one of packets of a respective series containing data representing an executable code module and including identification information indicating that the first one of packets of said series contains data representing said executable code module;

a second one of packets of the series contains data representing a data module and includes identification information indicating that said second one of packets contains data representing the data module; and

a third one of packets of the series contains auxiliary data and includes identification information indicating that the third one of packets contains auxiliary data;

a client computer including a data receiver for selecting packets of one of the plurality of distributed computing applications, and extracting the corresponding distributed computing application representative data included in the selected packets and applying it to computer program controlled apparatus for executing the extracted distributed computing application, said data receiver extracting auxiliary data from auxiliary packets in the data stream and supplying it to an auxiliary data processor.

7. A distributed computer system comprising:

a data stream source producing a data stream including a series of packets representing a plurality of time division multiplexed signals, one of said signals including data representing a distributed computing application, which distributed computing application is repetitively transmitted independent of receiving client computer apparatus, and at least one of the packets of the signal representing the distributed computing application includes a directory module containing information inter-relating packets associated with said distributed computing application;

a client computer, receiving the data stream, extracting the distributed computing application representative data from the data stream, and executing the extracted distributed computing application; and

wherein

the client computer extracts said directory module from the data stream and using data contained in the directory module extracts packets associated with said distributed computing application and builds said distributed computing application and executes said distributed computing application.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein:

a first one of the series of packets contains data representing an executable code module and includes identification information indicating that the first one of the series of packets contains data representing an executable code module;

a second one of the series of packets contains data representing a data module and includes identification information indicating that the second one of the series of packets contains data representing a data module;

a third one of the series of packets contains data representing said directory module inter-relating respective transmitted modules associated with a single distributed computing application, and includes identification information indicating that the third one of the series of packets contains data representing said directory module; and

a fourth one of the series of packets contains auxiliary data and includes identification information indicating that the fourth one of the series of packets contains auxiliary data.

9. In a distributed computer system, a client computer, comprising:

an input terminal for receiving a packet data stream including packets of video signal time multiplexed with packets of data representing a distributed computing application which distributed computing application is repetitively transmitted independently of said client computer and at least one of the packets representing the distributed computing application includes a directory containing information inter-relating ones of the packets containing said distributed computing application;

a data stream receiver, coupled to said input terminal, for receiving the data stream, providing separate data streams of said video signal and said distributed computing application, extracting said directory packet and responsive to the directory, extracting packets containing said distributed computing application representative data; and

a processing unit, coupled to the data stream receiver, for assembling said distributed computing application and executing the distributed computing application comprising;

a system bus;

read/write memory, coupled to the system bus;

a data stream input/output adapter, coupled between the data stream receiver and the system bus, for receiving the extracted distributed computing application representative data from the data stream receiver, and storing it in the read/write memory, and having a control output terminal coupled to the selection control input terminal of the data stream selector, for producing the selection control signal; and

a processor, coupled to the system bus, for controlling the data stream input/output device to generate a selection control signal selecting a specified one of the plurality of data streams, and for assembling and executing the distributed computing application stored in the read/write memory.