Abstract: A Component Transaction Server (CTS) is described, which provides a framework for deploying the middle-tier logic of distributed component-based applications. The CTS simplifies the creation and administration of Internet applications that service thousands of simultaneous clients. The CTS components, which execute on the middle-tier between end-user client applications and remote databases, provide efficient management of client sessions, security, threads, third-tier database connections, and transaction flow, without requiring specialized knowledge on the part of the component developer. The system's scalability and platform independence allows one to develop application on inexpensive uniprocessor machines, then deploy the application on an enterprise-grade multiprocessor server. In its Result Set module, the CTS provides tabular result sets, thus making the environment very desirable for business applications. In most component-based systems, a component interface returns an object.

Abstract: An Interactive Television (ITV) Client/Server system comprises one or more Clients (e.g., set top boxes or "STBs") connected to a Server module, via a Broadband Communication Network, is described. The system provides a generic mechanism for deciding how much or how little data is to be sent in response to a request from a Client. Specifically, each Client is allowed to describe ahead of time how much memory (approximately or exactly) it is allowing for the query result. This is communicated by the Client as part of the query itself. Regardless of what other activity the Client undertakes, the server maintains the context of the original query, until the Client terminates the connection. In a similar manner, when other simultaneous queries are open, the context is maintained for each query until the connection is dropped (or the query terminates). The Client can ask for more data (i.e., rows) on any open query. To optimize operation of the environment, requests from the Clients (i.e.