Automatic control of broadcast and execution of interactive applications to maintain synchronous operation with broadcast programs
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method of controlling the broadcast and reception of an interactive application, comprising:
- receiving control signals that control the broadcast of broadcast programs;
determining from the control signals an interactive application associated with one of the broadcast programs; and
generating from the control signals, commands to maintain execution and termination of the interactive application in synchrony with either the display or the broadcast of the broadcast program, wherein a scheduling system provides the control signals, the control signals include data identifying each broadcast program and its duration, the method further comprising;
generating commands to selectively schedule, start, stop, and cancel interactive applications associated with the broadcast programs using the identification data and the duration data from the control signals.
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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.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method of controlling the broadcast and reception of an interactive application, comprising:
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receiving control signals that control the broadcast of broadcast programs; determining from the control signals an interactive application associated with one of the broadcast programs; and generating from the control signals, commands to maintain execution and termination of the interactive application in synchrony with either the display or the broadcast of the broadcast program, wherein a scheduling system provides the control signals, the control signals include data identifying each broadcast program and its duration, the method further comprising; generating commands to selectively schedule, start, stop, and cancel interactive applications associated with the broadcast programs using the identification data and the duration data from the control signals. - 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 to control the broadcast and reception of an interactive application, the system comprising:
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a receiver to receive control signals that control the broadcast of broadcast programs; an interactive application detector to determine, from the control signals, an interactive application associated with one of the broadcast programs; and a commands generator to generate, from the control signals, commands to maintain execution and termination of the interactive application in synchrony with either the display or the broadcast of the broadcast program; a scheduling system to; provide the control signals including data identifying each broadcast program and its duration, and generate commands to selectively schedule, start, stop, and cancel interactive applications associated with the broadcast programs using the identification data and the duration data from the control signals. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A memory device having instruction data to cause a machine to:
receive control signals that control the broadcast of broadcast programs; determine from the control signals an interactive application associated with one of the broadcast programs; and generate from the control signals, commands to maintain execution and termination of the interactive application in synchrony with either the display or the broadcast of the broadcast program, wherein a scheduling system provides the control signals, the control signals include data identifying each broadcast program and its duration, the memory device further to; generate commands to selectively schedule, start, stop, and cancel interactive applications associated with the broadcast programs using the identification data and the duration data from the control signals.
Specification