Receiving an information resource from the internet if it is not received from a broadcast channel

• US 6,571,392 B1
• Filed: 04/20/1999
• Issued: 05/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTV Networks Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Blackketter, Dean J., Zigmond, Daniel J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shang, Annan Q.
• Application Number:
  US09/295,436
• Time in Patent Office: 1,498 Days
• Field of Search: 725/51, 725/109-110, 725/112-113, 725/134, 725/136
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/4622 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 21/4782 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

In interactive television, information from an information resource may be displayed along with television video in a synchronized fashion. When information is to be displayed at a point in the television video, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that identifies the information resource is broadcast along with the television video on a one-way broadcast communication channel. A receiver unit receives the URI from the broadcast channel. If the information resource identified by the URI is available locally (for example, is present in local storage on the receiver unit), then the receiver unit uses the URI to retrieve the information resource locally. If, on the other hand, the information resource is not available locally, then the receiver unit uses the URI to retrieve the information resource from the Internet. The information resource can therefore be received from a high speed source (for example, from VBI lines 10-20) if such reception is possible, but if such reception is not possible then the information resource can be retrieved. from another source (for example, from the Internet). Once the receiver unit has retrieved the information resource, the receiver unit can display the information along with the television video.

Claims

1. In a receiver unit, a method for increasing the likelihood that a referenced information resource is received, the method comprising:

a. monitoring a broadcast communication channel for information resources, and if the information resource is received determining if the information resource is to be stored in local storage at the receiver unit;

b. receiving a resource identifier from the broadcast communication channel that can be used to reference the information resource both at local storage and at a packet-switched network that is network connectable to the receiver unit;

c. determining, based on the resource identifier, if the information resource is present in the local storage; and

d. when it is determined that the information resource is not present in the local storage, then using the resource identifier to request the information resource from the packet-switched network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the broadcast communication channel comprises monitoring a one-way broadcast communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the broadcast communication channel comprises monitoring a packet-switched network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the information resource is broadcast on the one-way broadcast communication channel but the information resource is not received by the receiver unit in step (a), and wherein the receiver unit retrieves the information resource from the packet-switched network in step (d).

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the information resource is not broadcast on the one-way broadcast communication channel.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein step (a) includes:

the receiver unit determining if the information resource from the one-way broadcast communication channel is corrupted and if the information resource is corrupted the information resource is not stored in the local storage.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the information resource is HTML code or XML code.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein a first information resource is stored in local storage in step (a), a first resource identifier that identifies the first information resource being received in step (b), it is determined that the first information resource is to be retrieved from local storage in step (c), and wherein a second information resource is not stored in local storage in step (a), a second resource identifier that identifies the second information resource being received in step (b), the second information resource being requested from the packet-switched network in step (d).

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the one-way broadcast communication channel has a first sub-channel and a second sub-channel, the first sub-channel having a higher bandwidth than the second sub-channel, the information resource being received over the first sub-channel, the resource identifier being received over the second sub-channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one-way broadcast communication channel involves an NTSC television signal, the NTSC television signal having a plurality of first vertical blanking interval (VBI) lines and one second VBI line, the information resource being received by the receiver unit from the first VBI lines, the resource identifier being received by the receiver unit from the second VBI line.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the one-way broadcast communication channel is a television channel that is broadcast over airwaves.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the one-way broadcast communication channel is a television channel that is received over a cable network.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the one-way broadcast communication channel is a television channel that is received from a satellite.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the resource identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the packet-switched network is the Internet.

16. A method, comprising:

a. receiving a resource identifier on a second sub-channel of a one-way broadcast communication channel, the one-way broadcast communication channel also having a first sub-channel, the first sub-channel being a higher speed communication sub-channel than the second sub-channel;

b. determining, based on the resource identifier, if the information resource was received on the first sub-channel; and

c. if the information resource was not received from the first sub-channel, then obtaining the information resource identified by the resource identifier from the Internet.

17. In a computer system having a first receiver unit and a second receiver unit, a method, comprising:

a. receiving at the first receiver unit, web page content that was broadcast on a first sub-channel of a one-way broadcast television channel;

b. receiving at both the first receiver unit and the second receiver unit, a resource identifier that was broadcast on a second sub-channel of the one-way broadcast television channel, wherein the resource identifier can be used to reference the web page content from local storage at the first receiver unit, from local storage at the second receiver unit, and from the Internet and

c. at the second receiver unit, determining, based on the resource identifier received on the second sub-channel, that the web content broadcast on the first sub-channel was not received and using resource identifier to request the web page content from the Internet.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the web page content is hypertext mark-up language (HTML) or extensible mark-up language (XML) code, and wherein the resource identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

19. The method of claim 17, wherein television video is broadcast on the one-way broadcast television channel, and wherein both the first receiver unit and the second receiver unit display the web page content concurrently with the television video.

20. A receiver unit, comprising:

means for receiving a web page content from a first sub-channel of a one-way broadcast communication channel, and for storing the web page content received from the first sub-channel in local storage on the receiver unit in association with a resource identifier, wherein the resource identifier can be used to reference the web page content from both local storage and from the Internet;

means for receiving the resoure identifier from a second sub-channel of the one-way broadcast communication channel, the first sub-channel being a higher speed sub-channel than the second sub-channel; and

means for retrieving the web page content from the local storage according to the association between the web page content and the resource identifier if the web page content is present in local storage, and for using the resource identifier to retrieve the web page content from the Internet if the web page content is not present in local storage on the receiver.

21. The receiver unit of claim 20, wherein the web page content is hypertext mark-up language (HTML) code, wherein the resource identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that identifies the web page content on the World Wide Web, and wherein the receiver unit receives the one-way broadcast communication channel over a cable, the receiver unit also retrieving the web page content from the Internet over the cable.

22. A system, comprising:

means for broadcasting an information resource on a first sub-channel of a one-way broadcast television channel, and for broadcasting a resource identifier on a second sub-channel of the one-way broadcast television channel, the first sub-channel being a higher speed sub-channel than the second sub-channel; and

a receiver unit, comprising;

local storage; and

means for receiving the resource identifiers, which can be used to reference an information resource from both the local storage and from the Internet, from the second sub-channel, and for using the resource identifier to retrieve the information resource from the Internet if the information resource is not present in the local storage of the receiver unit, but for using the resource identifier to retrieve the information resource from the local storage if the information resource is present in the local storage of the receiver unit.

23. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

a. if a web page content is received at a receiver unit from a one-way broadcast communication channel, then obtaining the web page content from the broadcast communication channel and storing the web page content in local storage at the receiver unit;

b. receiving a resource identifier, which can be used to reference the web page content from both the local storage and the from the Internet, from the one-way broadcast communication channel;

c. if the web page content is present in the local storage, then using the resource identifier to retrieve the web page content from the local storage; and

d. if the web page content is not present in the local storage, then using the resource identifier to retrieve the web page content from the Internet.

24. In a receiver unit, a method, comprising:

receiving a web page content on a first sub-channel of a one-way broadcast television channel, receiving a resource identifier on a second sub-channel of a one-way broadcast television channel, and receiving television video over the one-way broadcast television channel, wherein the resource identifier can be used to reference web page content from both local storage and from the Internet, the first sub-channel being a higher speed sub-channel than the second sub-channel;

recording the television video along with the resource identifier onto a magnetic medium; and

playing back the television video from the magnetic medium and using the resource identifier stored on the magnetic medium to retrieve the web page content identified by the resource identifier from the Internet, and displaying the web page content along with the television video.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the magnetic medium is a magnetic tape contained within a cassette.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the magnetic medium is a magnetic tape of a VHS cassette.

27. In a receiver unit, a method, comprising:

receiving television video from a broadcast communication channel;

receiving a first version of an information resource from the broadcast communication channel and storing the information resource in local storage;

receiving a resource identifier from the broadcast communication channel, wherein the resource identifier can identify an information resource from both the local storage and from the Internet, such that the first version of the information resource in the local storage is identified by the resource identifier;

using the resource identifier to access the first version of the information resource from local storage;

determining whether the first version of the information resource has a characteristic;

if the first version of the information resource stored in the local storage is not determined to have the characteristic, then using the resource identifier to request a second version of the information resource from the Internet and displaying information from the second version of the information resource concurrently with the television video received from the broadcast communication channel; and

if the first version of the information resource stored in the local storage is determined to have the characteristic, then displaying the first version of the information resource concurrently with the television video received from the broadcast communication channel.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the first version of the information resource has a time stamp that is stored in the local storage, and wherein the step of determining whether the first version of the information resource stored in the local storage has a characteristic involves comparing the time stamp to a current time.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the characteristic is having an expiration date stamp that has not expired.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the first version of the information resource includes web content, wherein the second version of the information resource includes web content, and wherein the resource identifier is usable to locate both the first version of the information resource stored in the local storage as well as the second version of the information resource on the Internet.