Patent ID: 7865919
Filing Date: 2011-01-04
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. In a video-on-demand application including plural user terminals and an infrastructure linking the terminals to one or more video servers, a method comprising: presenting a user interface on a screen associated with one of said terminals, the user interface comprising plural elements; specifying a first group of user interface elements in accordance with first instructions stored in the user terminal; and specifying a second group of user interface elements in accordance with second instructions received by the user terminal from the infrastructure, wherein the user interface elements of the first and second groups allow the user to input commands; wherein the infrastructure further comprises a head end and a proxy server, the proxy server positioned between the plural user terminals and the one or more video servers so that communications pass from the one or more video servers through the proxy server to the plural user terminals; the proxy server comprising a control point for administering the second group of user interface elements on the plural client terminals so that the first and second groups of user interface elements are shared between the user terminal and the proxy server for displaying the shared user elements on the user terminal, the first group of user interface elements including a play button and the second group of user interface elements including a control, the play button and the control forming a portion of the user interface on the screen so that the user interface includes a combination of user interface elements provided by both the user terminal and the proxy server, and the method further comprises: receiving a video-selection via a graphical control presented on the screen, the video-selection made from among plural videos presented for selection as provided from a library of available videos maintained at the proxy server, the proxy server maintaining the library based on communications with the head end data; the graphical control comprising an element of the second group of user interface elements sent from the proxy server.