Abstract: A method is described of providing a document to a client coupled to a server. The server functions as a proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing a remote server. In the method, a document is retrieved from the remote server in response to a request from the client. The document includes data to be used by the client in generating a display. The proxying server alters (i.e., transcodes) the data in the document to form a transcoded document. The transcoded document is then transmitted to the client. The proxying server transcodes the data in the document in order to perform at least one of the following functions: (1) matching decompression requirements at the client; (2) converting the document into a format compatible for the client; (3) reducing latency experienced by the client; and (4) altering the document to fit into smaller memory space.

Abstract: Interactive television content can be classified as either disconnected content or as connected content. An interactive television system involves some receivers that cannot establish connections to the Internet and therefore cannot properly process triggers to connected content. The system also involves other receiver units that can establish connections to the Internet and can process triggers to connected content. A trigger in accordance with the invention involves a “connected content/disconnected content” attribute that identifies the trigger as either a trigger to disconnected content or a trigger to connected content. Receiver units that cannot process triggers to connected content can therefore use the attribute to identify triggers to such connected content and to ignore such triggers.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for reducing flicker of an image defined in HTML format for display on a television monitor. When an image is retrieved from a server by a user browser system that uses a television monitor and a dedicated computer system to display HTML documents, analysis is performed on the image to determine whether the image exhibits a tendency to interlace flicker if such an image were to be displayed unmodified on the television monitor. If the analysis indicates that the image would exhibit a tendency to interlace flicker, the dedicated computer system identifies a flicker reduction filter that reduces the interlace flicker. The dedicated computer system applies the filter to the images before it is displayed on the television monitor. Otherwise, the dedicated computer system displays the image as retrieved from the server without flicker reduction filtering.

Abstract: A method is described of providing a document to a client coupled to a server. The server functions as a proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing a remote server. In the method, a document is retrieved from the remote server in response to a request from the client. The document includes data to be used by the client in generating a display. The proxying server alters (i.e., transcodes) the data in the document to form a transcoded document. The transcoded document is then transmitted to the client. The proxying server transcodes the data in the document in order to perform at least one of the following functions: (1) matching decompression requirements at the client; (2) converting the document into a format compatible for the client; (3) reducing latency experienced by the client; and (4) altering the document to fit into smaller memory space.

Abstract: A server system provides a client system with a number of on-line services including a log-in service. Once the server receives a request from the user for initiating access to the server, the log-in service accesses a user database for information including access privileges of the authorized user in relation to the other services available on the server. The server then generates an information packet containing this information, and transmits the information packet to the client. The client than transmits a second request to the server, requesting use of another service offered by the server. The information packet provided by the server in response to the log-in request is transmitted along with the second request to the server. The server then regulates access by the client to this other service by using the information packet transmitted back to the server from the client. Thus, access to the user database is minimized.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing an automatic software upgrade over a satellite link. A server automatically downloads software updates over a satellite link to a client after such upgrades become available at the server. The download may be designated as mandatory or non-mandatory. Thus the download may be automatically performed or alternatively may prompt a user at the client to decide whether to accept the upgrade. The download eliminates the need for the client to be actively communicating with network infrastructure for the download to occur and enables the download to take place during low traffic time. Furthermore, the download requires little or no input from a user at the client.

Abstract: Systems and methods for obtaining and maintaining operable and updated versions of software on a client, which may be a set-top box or a personal computer. A server automatically downloads software updates over a satellite link to a client after such upgrades become available at the server without requiring interaction with a user. Similarly, corrupted software is automatically replaced by the client first automatically detecting if a corrupted state exists in local software or data using a checksum technique. If such corruption is found, the client automatically connects over the Internet to a server that contains a replacement for the corrupted program or data. The client then automatically receives a download of the program or data from the server.

Abstract: Methods and systems for scaling down a Web page image enables the image to be displayed on a standard television without horizontal scrolling of the image. A Web page image that initially has a horizontal dimension larger than the horizontal dimension of a television display is received from a web server and subsequently scaled down by a scaling factor that is based only upon the amount of scaling that is necessary to fit the image within the horizontal dimension of the television display. This scaling factor is used to scale the image horizontally and vertically, thus preserving the aspect ratio of the image. When a hyperlink from the scaled down Web page image is selected, coordinates to the hyperlink are scaled up based on the same scaling factor so that they will correspond with the server side image map of the Web page image.

Abstract: A server system provides a client system with access to a number of services. For each service, if a given service provider is overloaded (or if the client is unable to contact that provider), the client can contact any other of the service providers capable of providing the requested service. The server system provides information to the client system identifying a list of services that the server system provides. For each service in the list of services, the information includes a service name identifying the service, and at least one unique port identifying each service provider for that service so that one service name can be used in accessing the multiple service providers that provide the desired service. The request from the client includes a service name identifying the desired service provided by the server system, and includes at least one port corresponding to a service provider that provides the desired service, the port being selected from the ports provided by the server system.

Abstract: A server system provides a client system with a number of on-line services including a log-in service. Once the server receives a request from the user for initiating access to the server, the log-in service accesses a user database for information including access privileges of the authorized user in relation to the other services available on the server. The server then generates an information packet containing this information, and transmits the information packet to the client. The client than transmits a second request to the server, requesting use of another service offered by the server. The information packet provided by the server in response to the log-in request is transmitted along with the second request to the server. The server then regulates access by the client to this other service by using the information packet transmitted back to the server from the client. Thus, access to the user database is minimized.

Abstract: An improved method of providing a document to a client coupled to a server. The server provides a number of Internet services to the client, including functioning as a caching proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing the World Wide Web. The proxying server retrieves from a remote server in response to a request from the client a Web document used to generate a Web page on a television screen coupled to the client. Prior to downloading the requested Web page to the client, the server lays out the entire Web page and separates the Web page into partitions such that each one of the partitions corresponds to the viewable display area of the television screen coupled to the client. The server downloads the HTML data that drives the layout within the viewable display area of the television screen.

Abstract: Systems and methods for obtaining and maintaining operable and updated versions of software on a client, which may be a set-top box or a personal computer. A server automatically downloads software updates over a satellite link to a client after such upgrades become available at the server without requiring interaction with a user. Similarly, corrupted software is automatically replaced by the client first automatically detecting if a corrupted state exists in local software or data using a checksum technique. If such corruption is found, the client automatically connects over the Internet to a server that contains a replacement for the corrupted program or data. The client then automatically receives a download of the program or data from the server.

Abstract: An improved method of providing a document to a client coupled to a server. The server provides a number of Internet services to the client, including functioning as a caching proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing the World Wide Web. The proxying server retrieves from a remote server in response to a request from the client a Web document used to generate a Web page on a television screen coupled to the client. Prior to downloading the requested Web page to the client, the server lays out the entire Web page and separates the Web page into partitions such that each one of the partitions corresponds to the viewable display area of the television screen coupled to the client. The server downloads the HTML data that drives the layout within the viewable display area of the television screen.

Abstract: A system and method for distributing and presenting preferenced data from a host server to a browsing device through a communications network. The method involves identifying a user preference, providing at least one data feed containing information related to the user preference, selecting preferenced data from the data feed corresponding to the user preference, preloading the preferenced data from the host server to the browsing device, and presenting the preferenced data through the browsing device.

Abstract: A World Wide Web browser software is implemented in a processing system housed in a set-top box connected to a television and communicating over a wide-area network with one or more servers. The browser software allows a user to navigate using a remote control through World-Wide Web pages in which a number of hypertext anchors are displayed on the television. User inputs are entered from a remote input device using an infrared (IR) link. The processing system includes a read-only memory (ROM) and a flash memory. The mask ROM and the flash memory are assigned adjacent memory spaces in the memory map of the processing system. Browser software and configuration data are stored in the flash memory. Other software and configuration data are stored in a mask ROM. The browser is upgraded or reconfigured by downloading to the box replacement software or data transmitted from a server over the network and then writing the replacement software or data into the flash memory.

Abstract: A method is provided of displaying World Wide Web pages on a display device. A number of hypertext links are identified, wherein each hypertext link is for locating one of a plurality of Web pages. The hypertext links may be identified from a particular Web page or from results of a Web search. Web pages are retrieved using the identified hypertext links. Additional Web pages may be retrieved from Web pages that have been retrieved. Retrieved Web pages are automatically displayed in a sequence on the display device to form a visual tour of certain World Wide Web sites. The sequence may be based on any of various criteria, such as the subject matter of Web pages, the particular distribution of Web pages among Web sites, or the relative popularity of Web sites. A progress indication is displayed to indicate the Web page in the sequence that is currently being displayed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for reducing flicker of an image defined in HTML format for display on a television monitor. When an image is received at a client computer that uses a television monitor and a browser to display HTML. documents, spatial analysis is performed on the image to determine whether the image would exhibit a tendency to flicker if it were to be displayed unmodified on the television monitor. One reason that flicker can be experienced is the interlaced nature of the television monitor, which can result in some portions of images being displayed on only one of the two fields in a frame depending on the spatial frequency of the portions of the image. If the spatial analysis indicates that the image would exhibit a tendency to flicker, a flicker reduction filter is selected and applied to the image before it is displayed on the television monitor using the browser. Otherwise, the browser displays the image without flicker reduction filtering.

Abstract: A client-server system includes a client in communication with one or more servers. For example, the client server system may be for accessing the World Wide Web ("Web") in response to commands from the user. The client uses a display device to display a server-provided image to the user. The image is scaled down both horizontally and vertically, such that the entire horizontal dimension of the image is visible within the borders of the display device. Information corresponding to several Web pages may be maintained. Based on this information, images corresponding to these Web pages are displayed, each image including a reduced-size version of the corresponding Web page. A user inputted selection of one of these images is then accepted thereby accessing the corresponding Web page.

Abstract: A method of providing a document to a client coupled to a server is provided. The server provides a number of Internet services to the client, including functioning as a caching proxy on behalf of the client for purposes of accessing the World Wide Web. The proxying server includes a persistent document database, which stores various attributes of all documents previously retrieved in response to a request from a client. When a Web document is retrieved from a remote server in response to a request from the client, the database is consulted and the stored information relating to the requested document is used by the server in transcoding the document. The document is transcoded for various purposes, including to circumvent bugs or quirks found in the document, to size the document for display on a television set, to improve transmission efficiency of the document, and to reduce latency. The transcoder makes use of the document database to perform these functions.

Abstract: Browser software implemented in a set-top box as part of a client system communicating over the Internet with one or more servers allows a user to navigate using a remote control through World-Wide Web pages in which a plurality of hypertext anchors are displayed on a television. A user input entered from a remote input device is received by the client system over an infrared (IR) link. The user input specifies a direction in which the user wishes to move a selection relative to a currently selected hypertext anchor. Based on the user input, a determination is made of which one of the hypertext anchors is a best selectable hypertext anchor, and that hypertext anchor is then selected and indicated as such to the user. The user interface allows for the selection of hypertext anchors which are part of either clientside or server-side image maps.