Synchronous updating of dynamic interactive applications
First Claim
1. A method of updating an interactive application broadcast from a broadcast system to a reception device over a transmission medium, the method comprising:
- receiving, at an update manager of the broadcast system, a broadcast signal including at least one record of an interactive application from a broadcaster;
identifying, at the update manager, interactive application identification codes corresponding to records of the interactive application from the received broadcast signal, and providing the interactive application identification codes to an automation server;
when receiving the interactive application identification codes, based on a state of the interactive application, outputting commands to control output of update records to corresponding records of the interactive application from the automation server to the update manager;
in response to the commands from the automation server, selectively providing the update records to a broadcast server;
broadcasting an interactive application including the update record to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the update record by the reception device;
receiving, at the update manager of the broadcast system, one or more additional records of the interactive application from the broadcaster;
providing, at the update manager, selected ones of the additional records to the broadcast server; and
broadcasting the additional records to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the additional records by the reception device, the broadcasting of the additional records being performed by a module implemented using a processor of a computer.
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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.
95 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A 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 an update manager of the broadcast system, a broadcast signal including at least one record of an interactive application from a broadcaster; identifying, at the update manager, interactive application identification codes corresponding to records of the interactive application from the received broadcast signal, and providing the interactive application identification codes to an automation server; when receiving the interactive application identification codes, based on a state of the interactive application, outputting commands to control output of update records to corresponding records of the interactive application from the automation server to the update manager; in response to the commands from the automation server, selectively providing the update records to a broadcast server; broadcasting an interactive application including the update record to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the update record by the reception device; receiving, at the update manager of the broadcast system, one or more additional records of the interactive application from the broadcaster; providing, at the update manager, selected ones of the additional records to the broadcast server; and broadcasting the additional records to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the additional records by the reception device, the broadcasting of the additional records being performed by a module implemented using a processor of a computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system to update 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 configured to; receive a broadcast signal including at least one record of an interactive application, and identify interactive application identification codes corresponding to records of the interactive application; an automation server configured to; maintain state information of the interactive application based on the interactive application identification codes identified by the code detector, and based on the state of the interactive application, output commands to control output of update records to corresponding records of the interactive application; a code reader configured to; read the interactive application in the broadcast signal, identify records of the interactive application corresponding to the update records stored in a broadcast server communicatively coupled to the automation server, and provide the update records to the broadcast server based on the commands outputted by the automation server; and the broadcast server implemented using a processor of a computer and configured to; receive the update records from the code reader, and broadcast the interactive application including the update records to reception devices. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
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receiving, at an update manager of the broadcast system, a broadcast signal including at least one record of an interactive application from a broadcaster; identifying, at the update manager, interactive application identification codes corresponding to records of the interactive application from the received broadcast signal, and providing the interactive application identification codes to an automation server; when receiving the interactive application identification codes, based on a state of the interactive application, outputting commands to control output of update records to corresponding records of the interactive application from the automation server to the update manager; in response to the commands from the automation server, selectively providing the update records to a broadcast server; broadcasting an interactive application including the update record to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the update record by the reception device; receiving, at the update manager of the broadcast system, one or more additional records of the interactive application from the broadcaster; providing, at the update manager, selected ones of the additional records to the broadcast server; and broadcasting the additional records to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the additional records by the reception device.
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20. A system comprising:
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a code detector implemented using a processor of a machine and configured to; receive a broadcast signal including at least one record of an interactive application, identify interactive application identification codes corresponding to records of the interactive application, and provide the interactive application identification codes; and means for; maintaining state information of the interactive application based on the interactive application identification codes; based on the state of the interactive application, outputting commands to control output of update records to corresponding records of the interactive application; in response to the commands, broadcasting the interactive application including the update records to a reception device for execution of the interactive application including the update records by the reception device; receiving one or more additional records of the interactive application from the broadcaster; and broadcasting the additional records to the reception device from the broadcast server for execution of the interactive application including the additional records by the reception device.
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Specification