Patent ID: 8214429
Filing Date: 2012-07-03
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A data processing method for enabling nodes of a client-server network to interact with broadcast program content, the method comprising: detecting, using a server node, the presence on the network of one or more client nodes; extracting, using a trigger extractor, program-synchronous triggers from within the content of a broadcast program; using an application manager, in response to extraction of a program-synchronous trigger from a broadcast program, facilitating interactive communication, relating to the broadcast program content, between the server node and one or more client nodes whose presence on the network has been detected by sending, from the server node to the one or more client nodes, data packets in Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) and comprising trigger information based on the program-synchronous triggers and by receiving, from the one or more client nodes, other XMPP data packets comprising presence information relating to the one or more client nodes; using a game manager configured to perform application-specific functionality relating to a game, using a structured information exchange server configured to manage managing communications with the one or more client nodes, and using a database for storing information relating to the one or more client nodes and their connections; using the server node to extract, during a synchronous event, the program-synchronous triggers and to deliver the program-synchronous triggers to the game manager, and using the game manager to respond by generating content, and using the structured information exchange server to deliver the content to the one or more client nodes.