Intelligent device having background caching of web pages from a digital television broadcast signal and method of same

• US 6,374,404 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1998
• Issued: 04/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation Of America (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Brotz, Mario Udo, Wang, David S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Application Number:
  US09/216,668
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.700, H04/N.714, H04/N.712, H04/N.716, H04/N.7173, H04/N.544, G06/F.300, G06/F 1.300, 209/217, 345/327, 348/12, 348/13, 348/10, 348/6, 488/3.1, 488/5.1, 488/6.1, 488/6.2, 488/6.5, 725/46, 725/37, 725/40, 725/136, 725/112
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A client-side intelligent device having background caching of web pages within a digital television (DTV) system and method of same. The present invention includes a digital television system having an intelligent device for interfacing with a user/viewer and controlling the display of information on a display screen. The intelligent device, in one embodiment, is a set-top-box, but could be any intelligent electronic device or computer system. The set-top-box is configured to receive a DTV signal (e.g., land based cable or digital satellite system) that includes audio/visual information as well as data signals in a datacast format. The datacast format includes web pages, e.g., in the HTML (hypertext markup language) format of the world wide web. The DTV broadcasters support multiple channels of information on which content providers can supply a domain of web pages on a periodic basis. The present invention is able to display viewer-selected web pages on the DTV system. An intelligent filter is used that modifies itself based on user behavior and user preferences in terms of the web pages that a viewer routinely visits. The intelligent filter is then used to identify certain web pages of the pages that are being broadcast and these identified web pages are stored in a cache memory for later use by the viewer. A second tuner can be used to poll multiple channels when updating the cached contents. Cached web pages avoid broadcast latencies (due to periodic updating) and thereby are displayed faster to the viewer.

Claims

1. In a digital television system, a method of displaying information comprising the steps of:

a) maintaining an intelligent filter that records hypertext documents that were previously accessed by a viewer of said digital television system;

b) monitoring datacast information decoded from a digital television broadcast signal to identify newly received hypertext documents. said step b) comprising the steps of;

b1) tuning a tuner to a selected channel within said digital television broadcast signal and receiving datacast information therefrom for a time period;

b2) identifying newly received hypertext documents from said datacast information of said step b1);

b3) provided said time period expired, updating said selected channel and initializing said time period; and

b4) repeating said steps b1)-b3);

c) storing into a cache memory any of said newly received hypertext documents that are recorded in said intelligent filter;

d) receiving, from a viewer, an identifier of a selected hypertext document; and

e) provided said selected hypertext document is located within said cache memory, accessing said selected hypertext document from said cache memory and displaying said selected hypertext document on a display screen of said digital television system.

2. A method as described in claim 1 wherein said datacast information comprises a domain of hypertext documents that are periodically broadcast and wherein said digital electronic system is a digital television system.

3. A method as described in claim 2 further comprising the step of f) provided said selected hypertext document is not located within said cache memory, obtaining said selected hypertext document upon its next occurrence within said datacast information and displaying said selected hypertext document on said display screen of said digital television system.

4. A method as described in claim 2 further comprising the step of f) provided said selected hypertext document is not located within said cache memory, obtaining said selected hypertext document from a digital modem coupled to the word wide web and displaying said selected hypertext document on said display screen of said digital television system.

5. A method as described in claim 1 wherein said step a) comprises the steps of:

a1) receiving and recording identifiers of hypertext documents accessed by said viewer;

a2) recording a count associated with each identifier received by said step a1), said count indicating the number of times each recorded hypertext document was accessed by said viewer; and

a3) ranking said identifiers of said intelligent filter based on their associated counts.

6. A method as described in claim 5 wherein said step a) further comprises the step of a4) removing from said intelligent filter any recorded identifier of a hypertext document that has not been accessed by said viewer for a predetermined time period.

7. A method as described in claim 1 wherein said hypertext documents are web pages and wherein said identifiers are web page addresses.

8. A digital television system comprising:

a display screen;

a tuner coupled to receive a digital television broadcast signal;

an intelligent controller coupled to said display screen and coupled to said tuner, said intelligent controller comprising a processor coupled to a bus and a memory unit containing instructions that when executed implement a method of displaying information comprising the steps of;

a) maintaining an intelligent filter that records hypertext documents that were previously accessed by a viewer of said digital television system;

b) monitoring datacast information decoded from said digital television broadcast signal to identify newly received hypertext documents. said step b) comprising the steps of;

b1) tuning said tuner to a selected channel within said digital television broadcast signal and receiving datacast information therefrom for a time period;

b2) identifying newly received hypertext documents from said datacast information of said step bi);

b3) provided said time period expired. updating said selected channel and initializing said time period; and

b4) repeating said steps b1)-b3);

c) storing into a cache memory any of said newly received hypertext documents that are recorded in said intelligent filter;

d) receiving, from a viewer, an identifier of a selected hypertext document; and

e) provided said selected hypertext document is located within said cache memory , access ing said selected hypertext document from said cache memory and displaying said selected hypertext document on said display screen.

9. A digital electronic system as described in claim 8 wherein said datacast information comprises a domain of hypertext documents that are periodically broadcast.

11. A digital electronic system as described in claim 9 wherein said method further comprises the step of f) provided said selected hypertext document is not located within said cache memory, obtaining said selected hypertext document from a digital modem coupled to the word wide web and displaying said selected hypertext document on said display screen.

12. A digital electronic system as described in claim 8 wherein said step a) comprises the steps of:

a1) receiving and recording identifiers of hypertext documents accessed by said viewer;

a2) recording a count associated with each identifier received by said step a1), said count indicating the number of times each recorded hypertext document was accessed by said viewer; and

a3) ranking said identifiers of said intelligent filter based on their associated counts.

13. A digital electronic system as described in claim 12 wherein said step a) further comprises the step of a4) removing from said intelligent filter any recorded identifier of a hypertext document that has not been accessed by said viewer for a predetermined time period.

10. A digital electronic system as described in Claim 10 wherein said method further comprises the step of f) provided said selected hypertext document is not located within said cache memory, obtaining said selected hypertext document upon its next occurrence within said datacast information and displaying said selected hypertext document on said display screen.

14. A digital television system as described in claim 16 wherein said hypertext documents are web pages and wherein said identifiers are web page addresses.