Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to user interfaces and systems and methods for generating a real-time “lean-back” user interface for use with a television or other display device and for reuse of encoded elements for forming a video frame of the user interface. An interactive session is established between a client device associated with a user's television and the platform for creating the user interface over a communication network, such as a cable television network. The user interface is automatically generated by the platform and is animated even without interactions by the user with an input device. The user interface includes a plurality of interactive animated assets. The animated assets are capable of changing over time (e.g. different images, full-motion video) and are also capable of being animated so as to change screen position, rotate, move etc. over time. A hash is maintained of cached encoded assets and cached elements that may be reused within a user session and between user sessions.

Abstract: A system and method which authenticates a suspect user of a service by use of images of an authentication object. A registered user provides a trusted image depicting an authentication object, said image being then stored as a master image. Later attempts to access the service then require providing an additional image of the authentication object, the object in the additional image being compared to that in the master image and access being granted if the two images are found to depict the same object.