Abstract:
An apparatus for seamless connectivity between a narrow-band network like the Internet and an interactive TV wide-band network, and methods of operating the same, support on-the-fly translation and routing of data between the Internet and the interactive TV wide-band network. The apparatus for interfacing between a wide-band network and a narrow-band network comprises a decoder having a decoder input, a first decoder port, and a second decoder port, which receives wide-band data from the wide-band network via the second decoder port and decodes the wide-band data to provide decoded data in response to decoder requests from the decoder input. A gateway coupled to the decoder, the narrow-band network, and the wide-band network, having a first gateway port to receive the decoder requests from the first decoder port, a second gateway port to interface with the narrow-band network, and a third gateway port to interface with the wide-band network, retrieves requested data from the narrow-band network in response to the decoder requests and transfers the requested data to the wide-band network for transfer to the decoder.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/658,498, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,472 which was filed on Jun. 5, 1996. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to interfacing a wide-band network with a narrow-band network and more particularly to transparently interfacing a unidirectional wide-band broadcast network and the Internet. 
     2. Description of the Related Arts 
     Currently, there are two dominant digital infrastructures that are widely accepted and in public use. The first is the Internet structure also known as the world wide web based on narrow-band networks, and the second is Digital Pay television (TV) networks such as DirectTV™ based on wide-band networks. 
     Being the two dominant digital infrastructures, a single super hybrid infrastructure would provide an immense amount of information for its users. Users having access to the single super hybrid infrastructure would have limitless options available. However, no provisions have been made to converge the two infrastructures into a single super hybrid infrastructure. Moreover, consideration of the properties of each of these networks provides an understanding as to why the two infrastructure are not likely to converge into a single super hybrid infrastructure. 
     The Internet infrastructure relies on a backbone of limited bandwidth in view of the number of users and services that the Internet infrastructure supports. Users are typically limited to 28.8 kb/s (kilo bits/sec) accessing through telco lines. A fraction of the users are able to upgrade to cable modems capable of Mb/s (mega bits/sec) transfer rates. The terminals used to access the Internet possess high processing power and large amounts of storage. These terminals are commonly referred to as desktop computers. The terminal displays of these desktop computers also possess the ability to produce high quality pictures. In an effort to take advantage of the high processing power of the terminals and reduce bandwidth consumption of the Internet, programming for the Internet relies on the large amounts of computer caching available at the terminals. Increasing reliance is also placed on distributed processing, in which a portion of the processing is downloaded onto the terminal to complete the processing needed to access the various world wide web sites. 
     On the other hand, the wide-band network based Digital Pay TV networks rely on a wide-band broadcast mono-directional network combined with a point to point low bit rate (2400 bits/sec) bidirectional network. The terminals that receive the wide-band broadcast data possess low processing power and little to no storage media. The displays coupled to the terminals are low quality interlaced displays such as a typical National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) TV found commonly in most households. Thus, the terminals available to the wide-band networks possess low processing power with virtually no storage media for data and provide low quality displays compared to the Internet terminals. 
     Further advances based on the Digital Pay TV networks include interactive TV systems. In order to make interactive TV less costly and therefore more attractive to consumer acceptance, it is desirable to keep memory requirements in the receiver to a minimum. Thus, as development for interactive TV systems continues, the trend is to continue building terminals with low processing power and low storage requirements. 
     Contrary to the trend of maintaining low processing power and minimizing storage requirements, new Internet protocols that are being developed rely more on the processing power of the latest generation computers. Thus, as the Internet technology based on the narrow-band network develops and the interactive TV technology based on the wide-band network technology develops, the Internet technology and the interactive TV technology continue to alienate each other and move apart. Consequently, consumers seeking Internet access who subscribe to interactive TV are forced to acquire the latest generation computer. The cost of having both a subscription to interactive TV and the latest generation computer for Internet access can be cost prohibitive for the consumer. In order for the providers of interactive TV to supply a complete service, a transparent consumer interface between the wide-band network of interactive TV and the narrow-band network for the Internet is needed. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to provide Internet connectivity to low end terminals operating in an interactive TV wide-band network, and a method of operating the same that support on-the-fly translation and routing of data between the Internet and the interactive TV wide-band network for transparent access to the Internet. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides an apparatus for seamless connectivity between the Internet and an interactive TV wide-band network and methods of operating the same which support transparent on-the-fly translation and routing of data between the Internet and the interactive TV wide-band network. The novel seamless connectivity between the networks is based on a gateway that provides translation and routing of data. Thus, according to one aspect of the invention, a seamless connection for interfacing between a wide-band network and a narrow-band network comprises a decoder having a decoder input, a first decoder port, and a second decoder port, which receives wide-band data from the wide-band network via the second decoder port and decodes the wide-band data to provide decoded data in response to decoder requests from the decoder input. A gateway coupled to the decoder, the narrow-band network, and the wide-band network, and having a first gateway port to receive the decoder requests from the first decoder port, a second gateway port to interface with the narrow-band network, and a third gateway port to interface with the wide-band network, retrieves requested data from the narrow-band network in response to the decoder requests and transfers the requested data to the wide-band network for transfer to the decoder. The decoder receives the requested Internet data from the wide-band network. 
     According to one aspect of the invention the seamless connection further comprises a display device having a display input which displays the requested data and wherein the decoder includes a third decoder port coupled to the display input to provide decoded requested data to the display device. Thus, the requested Internet data is displayed on the display device. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the first decoder port includes a bi-directional port, and the first gateway port also includes a bi-directional port. The gateway includes circuitry that parses the requested data to provide narrow-band data and wide-band data and transfers the narrow-band data for output to the first decoder port. The decoder receives the narrow-band data and decodes the narrow-band data for output to the display device. The gateway transfers the wide-band data to the wide-band network. The decoder receives the wide-band data and recombines the wide-band data with the narrow-band data for output to the display device. Thus, criteria may be established to efficiently determine the dynamic routing of the requested data between the wide-band network and the low bit rate network to the decoder. Criteria include the type of Internet data requested, the availability of bandwidth, size of the Internet data, and added costs associated with transmitting using the wide-band network. 
     An apparatus and method for seamless connectivity between the Internet and an interactive TV wide-band network are provided. The gateway supports a high performance computer for executing the native protocols of the Internet. The gateway parses the Internet data, which enables the low processing power decoders to process the Internet data for display. Thus, lower cost decoders with low processing power can function to provide Internet access. 
     Other aspects and advantages of the present invention can be seen upon review of the figures, the detailed description, and the claims that follow. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a system level block diagram for digital transmissions in a direct broadcast satellite system for a wide-band network. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a gateway transferring Internet data via the wide-band network according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the gateway transferring Internet data via the wide-band network and the communication channel according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the gateway transferring Internet data via the communication channel according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the gateway transferring a plurality of Internet data for repeated broadcasts via the wide-band network according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The invention will be described with respect to the Figures, in which FIG. 1 generally shows a digital transmission system, for example a direct broadcast satellite system. It is presumed that a single satellite transponder accommodates a plurality of respective TV programs in time division multiplexed format. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the direct broadcast satellite system  10  provides a wide-band network that includes a broadcast center  12 , service provider  13 , and an end user  14 . The broadcast center  12  includes an application server  15 , an audio/video source  20 , encoder and multiplexer  25 , and satellite transmitter  30 . The application server  15  controls execution of interactive TV applications that are loaded into the logic circuits of the application server  15  to perform a series of specifically identified operations dictated by the interactive TV applications. 
     The interactive TV applications include associated audio and video information sources  20 . The application server  15  synchronizes the interactive TV applications and the associated audio and video information sources  20  into transport packets that provide inputs to the encoder and multiplexer  25 . The encoder and multiplexer  25  receives the transport packets and encodes the transport packets for transmission. Satellite transmitter  30  time-multiplexes the transport packets and transmits the transport packets as upload signal  33  to satellite  35 . 
     The broadcast center  12  is described in detail in issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,568, which is entitled “System of Transmitting an Interactive 5 TV Signal,” assigned to Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. and issued on Sep. 5, 1995. U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,568 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     Satellite  35  receives the upload signal  33  and transmits download signal  37  to end user  14 . The end user  14  includes satellite dish  40 , decoder  45 , TV  50 , remote control  55 , return channel  57 , and communication channel  59 . Satellite dish  40  receives the download signal  37  and provides an output to decoder  45 . The decoder  45  includes a software operating system loaded into the logic circuits of the decoder  45  that performs a series of steps to control the operations of the decoder  45 . The decoder  45  receives the download signal  37  from satellite dish  40  and decodes the transmitted interactive TV application and its associated audio and video information  20 . The decoder  45  executes the interactive TV application and provides audio and video outputs to TV  50 . 
     Remote control  55  provides inputs to the decoder  45  to select execution of other interactive TV applications for output to TV  50 . The decoder  45  includes an input/output port  56  that couples to the return channel  57  for communication to transaction server  60  or the communication channel  59  for communication with gateway  70 . 
     The service provider  13  provides local interaction with the end user  14  and includes the transaction server  60  and the gateway  70 . The transaction server  60  includes an input/output port  58  which couples to the return channel  57 . The transaction server  60  provides monitoring of transactions performed by the end user  14  and updating of the software operating system for the decoder  45  via the return channel  57 . The gateway  70  includes a port  68  that receives a request for Internet data from decoder  45  via the communication channel  59 . The return channel  57  and the communication channel  59  may be telephone lines or cable lines and support a low bit rate link. 
     The gateway  70  includes a port  72  that provides access to Internet  65 . The Internet  65  is a narrow-band network commonly known as the world wide web. The gateway  70  retrieves Internet data from the Internet  65  and communicates the Internet data to port  74  of the gateway  70 . High speed line  76  transfers the Internet data to the encoder and multiplexer  25 , which encodes the Internet data for broadcast to the wide-band network. Decoder  45  receives the encoded Internet data and decodes the Internet data for display on TV  50 . 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of the gateway  70  according to the present invention. The gateway  70  includes a headend  110  that includes circuitry programmed to execute native protocols of the Internet  65 . The headend  110  includes an MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) encoder  130 , renderer  140 , cache  150 , and parser  160 . Port  68  of the gateway  70  receives a data request  112  from decoder  45 . Communication channel  59  transfers the data request  112  from the decoder  45  to the port  68 . Communication channel  59  is a low bit rate link utilizing telephone lines as the medium for data transfers from the decoder  45  and the gateway  70 . The gateway  70  receives the data request  112  for Internet data and forwards the data request  112  to the headend  110 . 
     The headend  110  executes the native protocols for the data request  112  and receives Internet data  114  from the Internet  65 . The cache  150  manages latency between the Internet web servers and the headend  110  during retrieval of Internet data  114 . The headend  110  transfers the Internet data  114  to port  74  where the high speed line  76  transfers the Internet data  114  to the encoder and multiplexer  25  for encoding. The Internet data  114  includes spatial and temporal correlation encoded data such as rendered MPEG encoded audio and video data. The MPEG encoder  130  and renderer  140  provide the rendered MPEG graphical data. The Internet data  114  is encoded for broadcast by the satellite  30  to the wide-band network. The decoder  45  receives the encoded Internet data and decodes the Internet data for display by TV  50 . 
     Given that the MPEG encoder  130  and renderer  140  process the Internet data  114 , the decoder  45  does not require high processing power to render the graphical data from the Internet data  114 . The headend  110  provides a simple and high quality graphical interface to the Internet. Flexibility in MPEG encoding and rendering is also achieved. Moreover, the nature of MPEG encoding takes advantage of changes in relation to static portions of a page. Once the static portion of a page is transferred, later transfers provide data that represent changes to the static portions of the page. Thus, various tradeoffs are considered for the transfer of the MPEG data to the decoder such as fixed quality encoding with variable latency or variable quality with fixed latency. Other tradeoffs include fixed bandwidth versus variable bandwidth allocation of the wide-band link. The tradeoffs are taken into account for minimizing the processing of Internet data for the decoder  45 . 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the gateway  70 . The gateway  70  includes a headend  110  that includes circuitry programmed to execute native protocols of the Internet  65 . Port  68  of the gateway  70  receives a data request  112  from decoder  45 . Communication channel  59  transfers the data request  112  from the decoder  45  to the port  68 . Communication channel  59  is a low bit rate link utilizing telephone lines as the medium for data transfers between the decoder  45  and the gateway  70 . The gateway  70  receives the data request  112  for Internet data and forwards the data request  112  to the headend  110 . 
     The headend  110  executes the native protocols for the data request  112  and receives Internet data  114  from the Internet  65 . The parser  160  parses the Internet data  114  into wide-band data and narrow-band data such as graphical data and textual data. The headend  110  determines routing of the parsed Internet data between the wide-band links and the narrow-band links based on criteria such as cost, availability of bandwidth, size of data, and type of data. For example, small sized data may be transferred using the slower low bit rate link. Real time data on the other hand, such as video or audio data, are transferred using the faster wide-band network. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the gateway  70  receives the wide-band Internet data  116  and transfers the wide-band Internet data  116  to port  74  where the high speed line  76  transfers the wide-band Internet data  116  to the encoder and multiplexer for encoding. After encoding the wide-band Internet data  116 , satellite  30  broadcasts the encoded Internet data to the wide-band network. The gateway  70 , in response to the narrow-band data  118 , transfers the narrow-band Internet data  118  to port  68  where the communication channel  59  transfers the narrow-band Internet data  118  to the decoder  45 . The decoder  45  receives the encoded wide-band Internet data  116  from the wide-band network and the narrow-band Internet data on communication channel  59 . After decoding the encoded wide-band Internet data  116 , the decoder  45  circuitry recombines the wide-band Internet data  116  with the narrow-band Internet data  118  to provide display data for display by TV  50 . 
     The decoder  45  includes circuitry that renders the graphical data for display by TV  50 . Bandwidth consumption of the wide-band network is reduced by parsing the Internet data to provide graphical data and textual data and by using the narrow-band network to transfer the parsed Internet data. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of the gateway  70  according to the present invention. As decoder  45  receives a request to access the Internet  65 , the decoder tunes to a specific channel on the wide-band network and downloads an interactive TV application associated with Internet access. The interactive TV application includes an Internet web browser similar to Netscape Navigator™ developed by Netscape Communications Corporation and instruction codes that program circuitry within the decoder  45  to establish the communication channel  59  to contact the gateway  70 . Thus, the decoder  45  includes additional circuitry for increased processing power that enables execution of a world wide web browser at the decoder  45 . 
     As the decoder  45  receives inputs for Internet requests  112 , the Internet requests  112  are transferred to port  68  of the gateway  70  via the established communication channel  59 . The gateway  70  transfers the Internet requests  112  to the headend  110 . The headend  110  includes circuitry programmed to retrieve the requested Internet data. Once the requested Internet data is retrieved, the headend  110  parses the Internet data to provide text  120  and control devices  122  for the particular web page. The control devices  122  include functional buttons and scrolling functions for the web page. 
     The gateway  70  transfers the text  120  and the control devices  122  to the decoder  45  via communication channel  59 . The text  120  and the control devices  122  provide inputs to the Internet web browser, which enables the decoder  45  to reconstruct the requested Internet data. As the decoder  45  requests additional web pages, the headend  110  transfers additional text  120  and control devices  122  associated with the additional web pages via the communication channel  59 . Thus, as the decoder possesses more processing power, the amount of data and the rate of transfer for the data to support Internet browsing is reduced. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the gateway  70  according to the present invention. During instances when requests for access to the Internet  65  are abundant, certain web pages on the Internet  65  are more popular and are repeatedly requested. The headend  110  includes the cache  150  and circuitry programmed to statistically monitor and store repeated retrievals of the more popular web pages from the Internet  65 . Data from the statistical monitoring establish controls for re-broadcasting the more popular web pages to the wide-band network. Re-broadcasting the more popular web pages enables faster responses to decoders  45  that request those web pages. 
     For example, Internet requests  112  and  113  request similar Internet data and are received at port  68  via communication channel  59  from a plurality of decoders  45 . The gateway  70  forwards the Internet requests  112  and  113  to the headend  110 . The headend  110  retrieves the requested Internet data  126  and determines that the Internet data are frequently requested and notifies the headend  110 . As the headend  110  transfers the requested Internet data  126  to port  74  for transfer to the encoder  25  via the high speed line  76 , the encoder  25  is also notified that the requested Internet data  126  is to be re-broadcasted. The encoder  25  encodes the requested Internet data  126  for broadcast by the satellite  30  and notifies the satellite to repeatedly broadcast the encoded Internet data. The satellite  30 , in response to the notification, re-broadcasts the requested Internet data  125  received from cache  150  at regular intervals. Increased decoder response is achieved by having the popular web pages stored in cache  150  and regularly broadcasted rather than having each individual decoder submit requests to the gateway  70  to retrieve the same popular web pages. 
     In a further embodiment of the invention, the decoder  45  includes circuitry programmed to select particular web pages that have been requested from the repeated broadcasts of the popular web pages. The other web pages received from the wide-band network are filtered and ignored by the decoder  45 . Thus, the decoder  45  is programmed to select from the popular web pages broadcasted onto the wide-band network those web pages that the decoder  45  had requested. Re-broadcasting the popular web pages enables the gateway  70  to operate with higher efficiency by avoiding repeated accesses to Internet  65 . Furthermore, latency associated with accessing the Internet  65  is reduced by having the popular web pages readily downloadable from the wide-band network. Depending on the traffic for accessing particular web pages, latency associated with accessing the particular web pages can be of long duration. Thus, repeated broadcasts of popular web pages from the Internet  65  increases response time to the decoder  45  when accessing the Internet. 
     Accordingly, an apparatus for seamless connectivity of wide-band networks and narrow-band networks has been provided. The gateway provides an interface between the wide-band network and the narrow-band network. Accessing the Internet, which resides on the narrow-band network, from the wide-band network base is transparent to the users of the decoder on the wide-band network. Depending on the type of Internet data and the sophistication of the circuitry of the decoder, the Internet data is transferred over the wide-band network or the low bit rate communication channel of the decoder or a combination of both. Although the embodiments for seamless connectivity of wide-band networks and narrow-band networks have been disclosed with reference to an interactive TV system operating in a satellite transceiving network and the Internet, variations of the seamless connectivity interface according to the present invention are applicable in other network applications. 
     The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioners skilled in the art. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.