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Internet access via one-way television channels

  • US 6,698,023 B2
  • Filed: 10/26/1998
  • Issued: 02/24/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/26/1998
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A system for reducing Internet traffic and speeding up users'"'"' access to Internet content and applications, comprising:

  • a one-way multichannel communication medium;

    a multichannel data transmitter at a transmission center connected to the one-way multichannel communication medium;

    a broadcast server located at the transmission center and connected to the multichannel data transmitter for transmitting data in a broadcast manner and further connected to the Internet for downloading select Internet files from Internet servers located anywhere in the world and transmitting the downloaded files over said multichannel data transmitter in order to simultaneously reach an unlimited number of recipients served by the transmission center, said broadcast server operative for maintaining a selection list of Internet files to be transmitted in broadcast manner, downloading an entire file of the selection list from its origin Internet server before transmission of that file over said muiltichannel data transmitter, storing each downloaded file at least as long as to the end of its broadcast transmission, scheduling downloaded files for broadcast transmission in such a way to evenly distribute data flows among channels of said multichannel data transmitter and thereby to efficiently utilize the bandwidth of the channels, maintaining a timetable of broadcast transmission listing each Internet file scheduled for a transmission together with a time and a channel of the transmission, transmitting the timetable over a channel of said multichannel data transmitter prior to any Internet file listed in the timetable and transmitting each Internet file listed in the timetable over said multichannel data transmitter at the time and on the channel specified in the timetable;

    at the recipient side, a channel selector connected to said one-way multichannel communication medium;

    client means coupled to the channel selector for receiving said timetable of broadcast transmission from the channel over which the timetable is transmitted and for selective receiving of Internet flies from channels specified in the timetable, said client means storing a user'"'"'s selection list of Internet files for processing said timetable against the user'"'"'s selection list, identifying Internet files present in both the user'"'"'s selection list and the timetable, controlling said channel selector for automatic downloading the identified files at the time and from the channels of their broadcast transmissions as specified in the timetable, and replacing, if necessary, previous versions of the files by new versions; and

    display means coupled to said client means for presenting any of the downloaded Internet files to user on user'"'"'s request at the time of user'"'"'s choice.

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