Method and system for emulating an HTTP server through a broadcast carousel

Abstract

In an interactive television system, an interactive television receiver can receives a carousel over a broadcast path. The broadcast server may run a carousel manager, and the carousel manager may formulate a broadcast policy to be used in constructing the carousel. The interactive television receiver may run a interface module that can process resource requests from an application program. The interface module may obtain a requested resource from the broadcast path or from a point-to-point path.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method for emulating an HTTP server in a broadcast network, the method comprising: 
 receiving a request for a resource from an application program, wherein the application program executes on an interactive television receiver;    receiving a broadcast carousel comprising a data stream of a plurality of data modules, wherein the data modules are cyclically received; and    accessing an index to determine if the resource is available in the broadcast carousel, wherein the index identifies resources available in the broadcast carousel.    
     
     
         2 . A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a central processing unit to execute the method of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 obtaining the resource from a point-to-point path if the resource is not available in the broadcast carousel.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 obtaining the resource from an HTTP server, an FTP server or a file server.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request for a resource from an application program uses a first protocol, and wherein obtaining the resource from the point-to-point path comprises: 
 requesting the resource over the point-to-point path using a second protocol; and    receiving the resource from the point-to-point path.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the first protocol identifies the resource using an URI or a URL.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the second protocol identifies the resource using a URI or a URL.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request identifies the resource using a URI, wherein a location of the resources in the carousel is identified using a physical address, and wherein the index provides a mapping between the URI and the physical address.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request identifies the resource using a URI, wherein the resource can be obtained from the carousel using a logical carousel address, wherein the index provides a mapping between the URI and the logical carousel address, and wherein obtaining the resource further comprises: 
 searching the index to determine the logical carousel address of the resource; and    obtaining the resource from the carousel using the logical carousel address.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein obtaining the resource form the carousel using the logical carousel address comprises: 
 searching a second index to determine a physical address for the resource, wherein the second index provides a mapping between the logical carousel address and the physical address; and    obtaining the resource from the carousel using the physical address.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the resource is created using a hyperlink language.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the hyperlink language is HTML, XHTML or WML.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the resource includes at least one link identifying a second resource, the method further comprising: 
 pre-fetching the second resource.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the broadcast network is a cable network, a satellite network or an interactive television network.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application program runs on a set-top box, a game console or an interactive television receiver.  
     
     
         16 . A method for processing resource requests in an interactive television system, comprising the steps: 
 receiving a request for a resource from an application program, wherein the request uses a first protocol, and wherein the application program runs on an interactive television receiver;    searching an index to determine whether the resource is available from a broadcast carousel, wherein the index indicates resources available in the broadcast carousel, and wherein the broadcast carousel is cyclically transmitted to the interactive television receiver over a broadcast path;    determining the resource is not available in the broadcast carousel;    requesting the resource over a point-to-point path from a content host;    receiving the resource over the point-to-point path from the content host; and    providing the resource to the application program.    
     
     
         17 . A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a central processing unit to execute the method of  claim 16 .  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein requesting the resource over the point-to-point path comprises: 
 requesting the resource over the point-to-point path using a second protocol.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the first protocol identifies the resource using a URI or URL.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the second protocol identifies the resource using a URI or URL.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the content host stores a plurality of different representations of the resource, and wherein requesting the resource over the point-to-point path from the content host comprises: 
 performing content negotiation with the content host to select one of the plurality of representations.    
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the interactive television receiver is a set-top box or a game console.  
     
     
         23 . An interactive television receiver comprising: 
 a processor;    a data storage medium;    an application program stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor;    carousel interface logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor a carousel from a broadcast server sent over a broadcast path    interface module logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to receive a request for a resource from the application program, wherein the request uses a first protocol, (ii) to determine if the resource is available in the carousel (iii) to obtain the resource from the carousel if the resource is available in the carousel, (iv) to obtain the resource from a point-to-point path using a second format if the resource is not available in the carousel, and (v) to provide the resource to the application program.    
     
     
         24 . The interactive television receiver of  claim 23 , further comprising: 
 pre-fetching logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to determine at least one link in the resource, (ii) to retrieve data indicated by the at least one link, and (iii) to store the data in the data storage medium.    
     
     
         25 . A method for broadcasting resources to an interactive television receiver, comprising: 
 obtaining a service from a service provider, wherein the service includes a plurality of resources;    obtaining a broadcast policy from the service provider, wherein the broadcast policy indicates at least one of the plurality of resources to be sent to the interactive television receiver over a broadcast path;    creating a carousel, wherein the carousel includes the at least one of the plurality of resources, wherein the carousel includes a carousel directory, and wherein the carousel directory identifies resources that are included in the carousel; and    broadcasting the carousel to the interactive television receiver over the broadcast path.    
     
     
         26 . A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a central processing unit to execute the method of  claim 25 .  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein creating a carousel comprises: 
 performing content negotiation between the service provider and the interactive television receiver.    
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein performing content negotiation further comprises: 
 determining available formats for at least one of the resources in the service;    determining formats supported by at least one application program in the interactive television receiver; and    selecting one of the available formats for the at least one resource to use in the carousel.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein obtaining a broadcast policy comprises: 
 receiving a channel definition file from the service provider.    
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising: 
 determining that a resource in the carousel has expired;    removing the expired resource from the carousel; and    updating the carousel directory.    
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein updating the carousel directory comprises: 
 creating a supplemental carousel directory, wherein the supplemental carousel directory indicates changes to the carousel that were made subsequent to the creation of the carousel directory.    
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the interactive television receiver is a set-top box or a game console.  
     
     
         33 . An interactive television broadcast server comprising: 
 a processor;    a data storage medium;    service provider interface logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to receive a service from a service provider, and (ii) to receive resources from the service provider;    broadcast policy determination logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to receive broadcast policy information from the service provider, (ii) to retrieve broadcast policy information stored in the data storage medium, and (iii) to determine a broadcast policy;    carousel building logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to determine resources to be placed in a carousel based on the broadcast policy, (ii) to obtain resources to placed in the carousel, (iii) to construct an index, wherein the index provides a mapping between a carousel address and a URI identifier for each resource in the carousel, and (iv) to construct the carousel; and    carousel broadcast logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor to broadcast the carousel to an interactive television receiver.    
     
     
         34 . The interactive television broadcast server of  claim 30 , further comprising: 
 expiration logic stored in the data storage medium and executable by the processor, (i) to determine an expiration of a resource contained in the carousel, (ii) to remove the resource from the carousel, and (iii) to update the index.