System and method for construction, delivery and display of iTV content

• US 8,413,205 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2003
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TVWorks LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Carney, John, Niranjan, Sithampara Babu, Brandyberry, David, Franzen, Leon, Chane, Lena, Marenghi, Matt, Hegde, Prakash, Chung, Alex, Chu, Viva, Thomson, Greg, Dawson, Ruth, de Andrade, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Rong
• Application Number:
  US10/630,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20040226051A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,535 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 725/46, 725/144, 725/146, 725 32- 36, 725/92, 725/115, 725/145, 715/717, 715/731, 715/744, 715/746, 715/749, 715/760, 715/762, 715/763, 715/825, 715/826, 715/235, 715/236
• US Class Current: 725/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23617 by inserting additional data into a data carousel, e.g. inserting software modules into a DVB carousel arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4349 by extracting from data carousels, e.g. extraction of software modules from a DVB carousel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 : for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 : Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

iTV content is created and deployed using a server component adapted to allow content developers to create applications according to an authoring specification that describes a framework for same; a transport component including an operator-deployed application management system configured to optimize and deliver the applications to one or more clients; and a client component adapted to render the applications through a television so as to permit user interaction therewith. The authoring specification provides for the presentation of content through one or more templates defined therein, allowing application definition and behavior to remain common across multiple client device types, middleware platforms, and/or iTV operating environments. The framework for applications accommodates advertising, promotions, content placement packages and/or programming campaign definitions, so as to permit a selection of a specific advertisement, promotion or content at a time of preparation of the iTV content by the server, and/or a time of execution of the applications by the client.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating, at an application server, an interactive television (iTV) application which includes an application template, programming rules, and a dynamic data file, wherein the application template specifies layout and behavior of the iTV application and refers to the programming rules for selecting content from the dynamic data file to be placed at a location within the layout of the iTV application, wherein the selection of the content from the dynamic data file is based on multiple selection criteria in the programming rules, and wherein the programming rules include additional criteria for selecting a device, chosen among the application server and one or more client devices, to evaluate the multiple selection criteria to perform the selection of the content from the dynamic data file;

storing the application template, programming rules, and the dynamic data file as separate files in a centralized application management system;

optimizing the iTV application for delivery from the centralized application management system by converting the content in the dynamic data file to a specific format displayable by a particular client device of the one or more client devices; and

delivering the optimized iTV application including the application template, the programming rules, and the converted dynamic data file as separate files to the particular client device over a distribution network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the iTV application comprises one or more of interactive program guides, television menus, content services, virtual channels, video on demand applications, personal video recorder applications, broadcast on demand applications, enhanced television services applications, help, customer support, self service, games, and data service applications.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising delivering the optimized iTV application to the one or more client devices in response to requests from the one or more client devices, respectively.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the iTV application conforms to an extensible markup language (XML) authoring specification.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein presentation of the content by the one or more client devices is accomplished through interpreting the application template according to the XML authoring specification.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the programming rules comprise rules for automating the selection of product offerings, promotions, advertising campaigns, video-on-demand, broadcast-on-demand, transactional opportunities, or other types of content across disparate television services.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple selection criteria include one or more of location, current channel, current channel family, current channel category, time of day, offering category, current program, current program genre, current iTV application, current content type, and subscriber profile.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the programming rules include subscriber-specific rules according to a subscriber profile associated with the particular client device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the iTV application is configured to respond in a subscriber-specific manner to user interactions with the iTV application at the one or more client devices.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the programming rules are selected dynamically at the time of execution of the iTV application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the iTV application accommodates the programming rules, so as to permit a selection and use of a specific programming rule at a time of execution of the iTV application.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the iTV application conforms to an authoring specification, which provides a common model for provisioning, managing, deploying, advertising, commerce, layout, animation, events and navigation, dynamic data insertion, and optimization of the iTV application across different iTV operating environments.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the generating of the iTV application is performed by one or more servers located at a data center;

the optimizing is performed at a distribution center; and

the centralized application management system is located remotely from the data center and the distribution center.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

delivering the generated iTV application from the data center to the centralized application management system;

delivering the stored iTV application from the centralized application management system to the distribution center; and

delivering the optimized iTV application from the distribution center to the particular client device over the distribution network.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating updated programming rules;

replacing the programming rules stored on the centralized application management system with the updated programming rules; and

delivering the updated programming rules to the particular client device over the distribution network.