Patent Application
20110138410
The present invention relates to a television receiver, a server, and a method of operating a server for connecting a television receiver to a remote site.
It is known to operate browsers on computers to provide access to web servers via the internet in order to download web pages. A typical web page is represented using HTML (HyperText Markup Language). The downloading of HTML web pages requires a high bandwidth modem connection and the processing of large data files for the subsequent display of the webpage.
Television receivers are known which provide interactive services to a viewer. However, such television receivers usually have low bandwidth modems and are generally not suitable to provide internet access in order to download web pages. Such television receivers thus may not satisfy the desired degree of interaction. The present invention aims to address this problem.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television receiver comprising a modem for establishing a telecommunications link to a remote site for retrieving therefrom information data containing information represented by the Wireless Markup Language (WML), and being arranged to output display data derived from said information data, said display data representing at least a part of an interactive image for display.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television receiver for receiving signals representing image data and information data, said information data representing an interactive image for display and comprising metadata representative of metalevel information defining the configuration of the interactive image, the receiver comprising processing means for generating a signal representative of said interactive image configured in accordance with said metalevel information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television receiver for receiving signals representing image data and information data and for outputting data representing an interactive image for display, the interactive image comprising a number of viewer-selectable items each associated with a service, the receiver being responsive to viewer manipulation of an input device for selection of one of said items to cause the service associated with the selected item to be provided, wherein each of said items is associated with a key uniquely identifying the service associated therewith, wherein user selection of an item is effected by entry into the input device of the key associated with the service to be selected.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television receiver for receiving broadcast television signals representing image data and first information data, the receiver comprising a modem for establishing a telecommunications link to a remote site for downloading second information data, the receiver being arranged to output data derived from said first and/or second information data and representing an interactive image for display, and being responsive to viewer manipulation of an input device for the selection of a service from the interactive image to determine whether the data pertaining to the service is contained in said first information data, and, depending on the determination, to establish a telecommunications link to said remote site to download therefrom information data pertaining to the selected service.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a server for connecting a television receiver to a remote site, the method comprising: receiving a request from a television receiver for a connection with a remote site; authenticating the request by determining whether the request originates from a television receiver authorised to make such request; authorising the request by determining whether access to the remote site by the television receiver is available; forwarding the request to the remote site; receiving a response from the remote site; and transmitting the response to the television receiver.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server arranged to perform the above method.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the following, reference will be made to the WapTV infrastructure which is intended to refer to the infrastructure underlying the described embodiments of the invention. Also, reference will be made to the Sky Digital set-top box (STB) forming a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is to be noted that these references are exemplary only and that the present invention is not limited to a use with the Sky Digital system.
The WapTV infrastructure is arrenged to support the delivery of various content services for Sky Digital users, including: (a) on-line commerce (b) information services and (c) enhanced, interactive TV services. The infrastructure allows the Sky Digital set-top box (STB) to connect to content providers, using Internet communications and content standards. This enables very rapid and flexible deployment oft-commerce services to Sky digital customers.
Furthermore, reference is made herein to the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and the Wireless Markup Language (WML) for WAP devices. The specification of WAP can be found at www dot wapforum dot org.
A method of delivering Internet content to the Sky STB based on the Wireless Markup Language (WML) will be described herein. This represents an alternative and fundamentally different approach to that taken by other digital TV platforms, i.e. the use of an HTML browser. WML offers a series of advantages:
WML content is delivered as a series of “cards” in a “deck”. The interaction between cards is under the control of the author of the site. This means that the author can control the user interaction much more closely without making numerous requests. The more closely controlled user interface will be understood and appreciated by a wider audience than the more complex HTML content and therefore is more suited to the mass-market TV audience.
The WAP infrastructure is actually split into two parts: (a) XML compilation is done at the online gateway server and (b) the STB processes the compiled WML and renders the compiled content on the screen. The amount of data, in compiled WML format, that has to be transmitted across the phone line is less than the equivalent service deployed via an HTML browser. This complements the modem capabilities of the typical STB and contributes to responsiveness appropriate to the TV medium.
The WML browser does less processing than the equivalent HTML browser and therefore requires less computing power for equivalent performance. This again complements the capabilities of the STB.
WML was developed for mobile phones that are inherently like Sky's remote control handsets with data entry typically being restricted to numeric keys.
Overview of the WapTY Infrastructure
Broadcast Stream
A WML micro-browser (the “browser”) running on the STB drives the WapTV infrastructure at the consumer end. The browser is loaded on demand by the STB from the broadcast stream. Additional resources may also be broadcast and loaded as required by the browser.
Set-Top-Box (STB)
The browser is loaded into the STB whenever the user or STB triggers the load process. Possible launch points include:
The browser is downloaded into the STB and the browser and then executed. Either a default initial, service is displayed to the user or the launch point can request a specific service to be displayed using a simple transfer file.
The browser is designed to co-exist and enhance the television channel that the consumer is currently watching. The video and audio feeds associated with the currently selected channel will continue to be delivered. The video stream can be kept full-screen with the browser on top, shrunk to quarter screen leaving the remainder of the screen available for browser-delivered content, or hidden entirely if full-screen browser content is required.
The browser operates in a similar manner to a standard web-browser such as Internet Explorer where the browser can display content including images, text, data input fields, click boxes and other GUI components. The browser addresses the content as URLs, just like a standard HTML browser.
The browser displays WML (Wireless Mark-up Language) and has the 5 capability of executing WMLScript. For most services the first few resources (WML, WMLScript, images) are typically broadcast so as to not require the browser to go on-line to access them. On going deeper into the service accessing resources that are not broadcast requires the browser to go on-line to retrieve the content from the WapTV on-line infrastructure.
Online Connection
When an online connection is required the browser requests the STB to dial a telephone number associated with the current service (this allows different numbers and hence different call tariffs to be associated with each piece of service). The call is terminated on a POP (Point Of Presence, i.e. a bank of modems) operated on behalf of WapTV. Most calls are connected at 28.8 kbps—the modem speed of the STB.
Authentication and Security
Once a connection is established the call is authenticated using SSSLs proprietary authentication mechanism based on the smart card technology in the STB (SSSLSky Subscribers Services Limited). The authentication process checks that a valid card and STB combination is making the call. It then determines and exchanges a security key with the STB before depositing it in the WapTV Security database. This security key is used to authenticate and decrypt/encrypt any data transferred from/to the STB during this call. It is removed from the database when the call terminates.
The security database is a simple Oracle Parallel Server database running on a cluster of two Sun E6500 servers. The clustered Oracle database implementation is highly resilient with automatic fail-over from one Sun machine to the other in the event of problems with no break in service to STB's already connected. This high degree of resilience has been selected to ensure continuity of service for customers when connected to the infrastructure.
On-Line Servers
Once the connection has been made and authenticated successfully the browser can initiate HTTP requests over the connection. These are processed by a bank of On-Line Servers (OLSs) with load balancing across them. The OLSs perform the following key roles:
Service Providers
The WapTV infrastructure is linked to service providers via a variety of different techniques, dependent upon the security, volume and resilience requirements. Currently these include, Internet, Internet VPN (Virtual Private Network), and dedicated private link.
The service providers generally operate their own infrastructure, consisting of a typical web infrastructure. To drive the browser on the STB they can deliver standard WML, however, they can also make use of the additional capabilities and features provided by the WapTV environment.
Service providers must receipt commercial transactions conducted on the WapTV infrastructure (see below).
The WapTV WML Browser
The basis for much of the browser implementation is the WML, WMLScript 20 and WBXML specifications. However WML has a number of limitations when considered within a rich tele-visual environment.
Consequently we have implemented some extensions to WML, e.g. extending the use of tables and layout. We also support full colour JPEG and MPEG image formats instead of monochrome Wireless Bitmaps.
In addition, our implementation includes numerous ideas related to the environment in which the tele-visual context in which the WML browser pane is displayed, e.g. the configuration of embedded video, background images, colours and fonts. These are outside the scope of the WML specification.
Finally, as the STB only supports a single online interface based on HTTP we have not made use of the other parts of the WAP specification, in particular, we have, not used any of the session and transport level specifications.
Meta-Level Features
As the browser is running within a rich tele-visual broadcast environment 15 there are significant features and characteristics of the browser that are outside the scope of WML.
Browser Configuration
A particular instance of the browser is configured using meta-level resources. This configuration can be changed as a user navigates between services (see 20 Service Configuration), providing a very rich and potentially diverse environment.
A browser configuration includes:
The different screen components that can be configured include:
The configuration enables the browser to take on a wide range of tele-visual look and feels. Examples include:
Universal Service Locator or Service Key
A Universal Service Locator (USL) or Service Key is a number that correspondes to a memorable keyword that uniquely identifies a service. The number is derived from the keyword using the character mappings on the remote control, i.e., a,b,c>2; d,e,f=>3 etc. For example, the USL for 1email” is 36245.
The USL concept is a feature built into the browser that provides an easy-to-remember, easy-to-input (using a remote control) mechanism to identify and quickly access a known service.
Service Configuration
Part of the broadcast environment includes a small amount of data associated 20 with each service.
As a user navigates between services this information is used to retrieve broadcast resources, reconfigure the browser, establish online connections and retrieving online content and retrieving online content.
WML Extensions
Improving Layout Control
To satisfy the layout requirements of a sophisticated tele-visual environment we had to introduce a small number of specific extensions to the WML DTD (Document Type Definition).
This enables tables to be used to layout any WML element, including input fields and tables. It also enables font emphasis to be applied to all elements, not just text.
Card-Level Control of the Browser
To achieve a more dynamic look and feel some additional card attributes were introduced that drive aspects of the browser configuration and/or properties of the meta-level browser components.
WML Interpretation
Although WML was originally specified for devices with far less capability than a digital set-top-box, the specification has been interpreted in a manner that maximises the capability of the browser within this environment.
Dos
Anchors
Titles
Input
Browser Resource Search Path
When the browser is required to retrieve a resource identified by a URL (for example when an “anchor” is activated) the search path for the resource consists of the following two step process:
1. Check the broadcast resources for the current service, if any, to determine if they contain the required resource.
2. If not, request the resource from the online infrastructure. An online connection is established automatically if the browser is not currently online.
This enables the design of a service to be carried out without reference to what resources are broadcast and what resources are retrieved online. Once the service is complete a selection of service resources can be packaged up and broadcast. If these broadcast resources are chosen in such a way that the “top” of the service is broadcast this can have the effect of delaying the point when an online connection is established.
WapTV On-line Processing
The following steps describe the sequence of events performed during the processing of a single HTTP request from the browser running in a STB. These are depicted in
1. Receive:
The OLS waits for HTTP protocol requests from the STB.
2. Authentication I Decryption:
A library provided by SSSL is called to authenticate and optionally decrypt the request. This retrieves the security key stored in the Security database for this connection.
3. Authorisation:
The request URL's domain is checked against a table of authorised service providers. If the domain is not authorised or is temporarily disabled, the OLS returns an access denied or closed page.
4. Forwarding:
The HTTP request is then forwarded to the relevant service provider. Additional HTTP headers are added to the request. These include the smart card ID and Sky subscriber ED. This allows the service provider to uniquely identify a specific household accessing their service and track their behaviour across requests and sessions.
5. Response:
The OLS then waits for the HTTP response from the service provider. Any commercial transactions conducted as a consequence of this request must be receipted by the service provider.
These are reported to WapTV using an additional HTTP header in the response. This enables the reconciliation of commerce transactions required under the SSSL subsidy recovery regime to be performed.
6. Server Pre-Processing:
Depending on the mime type of the resource requested the OLS may perform some pre-processing of the response to reduce the processing subsequently required within the STB when it receives the response. The following resource transformations are perfomed:
7. Digital Signing I Encryption:
The processed response is then digitally signed and optionally encrypted.
8. Send
Finally, the response is sent back to the set top box using the HTTP protocol.
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. It is envisaged that various modifications and variations to the above described embodiments could be made without falling outside the scope of the present invention as determined from the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0100912.5 | Jan 2001 | GB | national |
The present application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/352,144, filed Jan. 12, 2009, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/466,169, filed Nov. 3, 2003 which in turn is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/GB01/05599, filed Dec. 18, 2001, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Great Britain patent application No. 0100912.5, filed Jan. 12, 2001. Each application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12352144 | Jan 2009 | US |
| Child | 13026455 | US | |
| Parent | 10466169 | Nov 2003 | US |
| Child | 12352144 | US |
