Synchronous updating of dynamic interactive applications
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method of updating an interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, the method comprising:
- receiving at the broadcast system a broadcast signal including at least one record of a first interactive application;
selecting a second interactive application, and broadcasting records of the second interactive application to the reception device in place of at least some of the records of the first interactive application, for execution of the second interactive application by the reception device;
receiving at the broadcast system in the broadcast signal one or more additional records of the first interactive application; and
broadcasting from the broadcast system selected ones of the additional records to the reception device, for execution of the second interactive application in conjunction with the additional records.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automation server interfaces with broadcast scheduling systems of various types to automatically synchronize the behavior of interactive applications relative to various broadcast programs, such as television shows and commercials, so as to maintain the appropriate interactive application for whatever broadcast program is airing. This allows for television shows which have an associated interactive application, but which are segmented by commercials (which may have their own interactive applications) to have their interactive application displayed while the television show in on, but not during commercials, while maintaining any state information that has been created during execution of the interactive application. The automation server includes multiple channel interfaces, each having a translator and an event manager. The translator translates native control signals from the scheduling system into a fixed set of atomic commands which represent the lifecycle behavior of a broadcast program. The event manager receives these atomic commands and uses them to determine the appropriate state for any interactive application that is associated with the broadcast program. The event manager transmits commands to a broadcast server which directly manages the interactive applications by transmitting code, data, and commands to broadcast receivers that controls the execution of the interactive applications in response to the event manager'"'"'s commands.
225 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method of updating an interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, the method comprising:
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receiving at the broadcast system a broadcast signal including at least one record of a first interactive application; selecting a second interactive application, and broadcasting records of the second interactive application to the reception device in place of at least some of the records of the first interactive application, for execution of the second interactive application by the reception device; receiving at the broadcast system in the broadcast signal one or more additional records of the first interactive application; and broadcasting from the broadcast system selected ones of the additional records to the reception device, for execution of the second interactive application in conjunction with the additional records. - 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 system for updating an interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, the system comprising:
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a code detector adapted to receive a broadcast signal and identify codes in the signal that relate to a change in a state of a first interactive application, and that provides outputs signals indicative of the change of state; a server that maintains state information for the first interactive application in response to the output signals from the code detector, and in response to the state of the first interactive application, outputs commands to start or stop the output of updated records of the interactive application; a code reader, adapted to read interactive application codes of an interactive application and to identify records of the first interactive application that are updates of corresponding records of a second interactive application stored in a broadcast server, and communicatively coupled to the server, that selectively provides the updated records to the broadcast server in response to the commands from the server; and a broadcast server that broadcasts the second interactive application to reception devices for execution by the reception devices in place of the first interactive application, and selectively broadcasts the updated records to the reception devices, for execution of the second interactive application in conjunction with the updated records. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer implemented method of updating a customized interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, comprising:
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receiving at the broadcast system a broadcast including at least one record of first interactive application; selecting a customized version of the first interactive application, and broadcasting records of the customized version of the first interactive application to the reception device in place of the records of the first interactive application; receiving at the broadcast system additional records of the first interactive application; and responsive to determining that an additional record is an update of a corresponding record of the customized interactive application, broadcasting the additional record to the reception device, for execution of the customized application in conjunction with the additional record.
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41. A computer readable medium for updating an interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, the computer readable medium coupled to a processor, for controlling the processor to perform the operations of:
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receiving at the broadcast system a broadcast signal including at least one record of a first interactive application; selecting a second interactive application, and broadcasting records of the second interactive application to the reception device in place of at least some of the records of the first interactive application, for execution of the second interactive application by the reception device; receiving at the broadcast system in the broadcast signal one or more additional records of the first interactive application; and providing to a broadcast system selected ones of the additional records for broadcast to the reception device, for the reception device to execute of the second interactive application in conjunction with the additional records.
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Specification