Abstract:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for communicating and processing data in communication networks, e.g., cable networks and/or interactive television networks. Selective use of different data streams and encoding techniques enable sophisticated user interfaces to be generated on client devices having varying processing capabilities. MPEG encoding techniques have reduced complexity to enable better response time to user requests. Specialized user interface features, such as hoverzooming, are enabled.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application is related to, and claims priority from, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/576,786, filed on Jun. 3, 2004, entitled “ZUI on PVR Architecture Specification”, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. 

   BACKGROUND 
   The present invention describes systems and methods for processing and transferring multimedia data between nodes in a communication system, e.g., an interactive television system, usable to create, for example, sophisticated entertainment user interfaces in the home. 
   Technologies associated with the communication of information have evolved rapidly over the last several decades. Television, cellular telephony, the Internet and optical communication techniques (to name just a few things) combine to inundate consumers with available information and entertainment options. Taking television as an example, the last three decades have seen the introduction of cable television service, satellite television service, pay-per-view movies and video-on-demand. Whereas television viewers of the 1960s could typically receive perhaps four or five over-the-air TV channels on their television sets, today&#39;s TV watchers have the opportunity to select from hundreds and potentially thousands of channels of shows and information. Video-on-demand technology, currently used primarily in hotels and the like, provides the potential for in-home entertainment selection from among thousands of movie titles. Digital video recording (DVR) equipment such as offered by TiVo, Inc., 2160 Gold Street, Alviso, Calif. 95002, further expand the available choices. 
   The technological ability to provide so much information and content to end users provides both opportunities and challenges to system designers and service providers. One challenge is that while end users typically prefer having more choices rather than fewer, this preference is counterweighted by their desire that the selection process be both fast and simple. Unfortunately, the development of the systems and interfaces by which end users access media items has resulted in selection processes which are neither fast nor simple. Consider again the example of television programs. When television was in its infancy, determining which program to watch was a relatively simple process primarily due to the small number of choices. One would consult a printed guide which was formatted, for example, as series of columns and rows which showed the correspondence between (1) nearby television channels, (2) programs being transmitted on those channels and (3) date and time. The television was tuned to the desired channel by adjusting a tuner knob and the viewer watched the selected program. Later, remote control devices were introduced that permitted viewers to tune the television from a distance. This addition to the user-television interface created the phenomenon known as “channel surfing” whereby a viewer could rapidly view short segments being broadcast on a number of channels to quickly learn what programs were available at any given time. 
   Despite the fact that the number of channels and amount of viewable content has dramatically increased, the generally available user interface and control device options and frameworks for televisions have not changed much over the last 30 years. Printed guides are still the most prevalent mechanism for conveying programming information. The multiple button remote control with simple up and down arrows is still the most prevalent channel/content selection mechanism. The reaction of those who design and implement the TV user interface to the increase in available media content has been a straightforward extension of the existing selection procedures and interface objects. Thus, the number of rows and columns in the printed guides has been increased to accommodate more channels. The number of buttons on the remote control devices has been increased to support additional functionality and content handling. However, this approach has significantly increased both the time required for a viewer to review the available information and the complexity of actions required to implement a selection. Arguably, the cumbersome nature of the existing interface has hampered commercial implementation of some services, e.g., video-on-demand, since consumers are resistant to new services that will add complexity to an interface that they view as already too slow and complex. 
   An exemplary control framework having a zoomable graphical user interface for organizing, selecting and launching media items is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/768,432, filed on Jan. 30, 2004 to Frank A. Hunleth, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. This framework provides exemplary solutions to the afore-described problems of conventional interfaces. Among other things, such exemplary frameworks provide mechanisms which display metadata associated with media items available for selection by a user in a manner which is easy-to-use, but allows a large number of different media items to be accessible. One feature of exemplary frameworks described in this patent application is the use of zooming to provide, among other things, visually informative transitions between different semantic levels of media objects displayed by the interface and as a mechanism for highlighting objects currently being considered by a user. 
   The implementation of these types of advanced user interfaces is complicated by the system architectures and communication nodes involved in the processing and transport of data used to generate these interfaces from various sources to an end user&#39;s device, e.g., a television. As will be described in more detail below, this data includes so-called metadata that describes the media content. The term “metadata” as it is used herein refers to all of the supplementary information that describes the particular content of interest associated with media items available for selection by a user. As an example for movie objects, the metadata could include, e.g., the title, description, genre, cast, DVD cover art, price/availability, cast bios and filmographies, links to similar movies, critical reviews, user reviews, the rights associated with the metadata itself, rights associated with the content, advertising metadata linked to the content of interest, etc. An exemplary system for capturing, processing, synthesizing and forwarding metadata suitable for such advanced user interfaces is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/037,897 entitled “A Metadata Brokering Server and Method”, filed on Jan. 18, 2005, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. 
   Once captured and processed, however, the data needs to be communicated from, for example, a head-end portion of the system to, for example, a set-top box in a manner which enables sufficient data to be supplied to render rich user interfaces, while at the same time being sensitive to time delay and operating within the constraints imposed by legacy hardware. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide architectures and methods which resolve these conflicting parameters and enable advanced user interfaces to be generated. 
   SUMMARY 
   Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for communicating and processing data in communication networks, e.g., cable networks and/or interactive television networks. Selective use of different data streams and encoding techniques enable sophisticated user interfaces to be generated on client devices having varying processing capabilities. 
   According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for transmitting data from an upstream node to a client device in a cable communication network includes the steps of selectively identifying data to be transmitted from the upstream node to the client device as either first data or second data, encoding the first data using MPEG encoding, transmitting the MPEG encoded data via an MPEG data stream to the client device, encoding the second data using a second type of encoding which is different than MPEG encoding and transmitting the encoded second data using a second data stream to the client device. 
   According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for generating a hoverzoom effect on a user interface includes the steps of transmitting background layer data and foreground data to a client device, displaying the background layer, identifying a user action associated with the hoverzoom effect, displaying, in response to the user action, said foreground layer as an overlay on the background layer. 
   According to yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for MPEG encoding data to be transmitted from an upstream node to a client device includes the steps of estimating motion vectors associated with a user interface, sending the motion vectors to an MPEG encoder, and MPEG encoding the data to be transmitted using the estimated motion vectors. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention, wherein: 
       FIGS. 1(   a ) and  1 ( b ) depict screens of a user interface showing a hoverzoom feature which can be generated using data processed in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  depicts another screen of a user interface which can be generated using data processed in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a table showing exemplary metadata types and sources; 
       FIG. 4  shows a client-server architecture according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  illustrates the MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder of  FIG. 4  in more detail in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 6  illustrates the scene request processor of  FIG. 4  in more detail in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 7  illustrates the client UI state machine of  FIG. 4  in more detail in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 8  depicts an exemplary messaging interaction between an event processor, scene loader, exclusive scene and overlay scene in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 9  shows another exemplary messaging interaction associated with architecture and methods in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 10  depicts a technique for encoding data associated with a hoverzoom effect according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 11  illustrates selective encoding of data for transmission to a client device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims. 
   In order to provide some context for this discussion, exemplary user interface screens which can be created using data and instructions forwarded from a server to a client in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown in  FIGS. 1(   a ) and  1 ( b ). Therein, a portion of an exemplary user interface screen which can be generated based on information transferred to an end user&#39;s system (e.g., set-top box/television or personal computer) shows ten media selection items. For more information regarding this purely exemplary interface, including previous screens and navigation techniques, the interested reader is directed to the above-incorporated by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/768,432. It will be appreciated that such user interfaces are purely exemplary and that architectures and methods in accordance with the present invention can be implemented to support other interfaces. 
     FIG. 1  ( a ) shows a user interface screen having a plurality of media objects available for selection as images, e.g., DVD cover art. In  FIG. 1(   b ), the image associated with the movie “Apollo 13” has been magnified as a result of a preliminary selection activity, e.g., a user passing a cursor (not shown) over this image on the display screen. This feature, referred to as a hoverzoom effect and described in more detail below under the heading “Hoverzoom”, can be achieved by transmitting data (e.g., metadata) and instructions between nodes, e.g., a headend and a set-top box according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. At lower levels of the user interface, additional data, e.g., metadata delivered from content providers, can be used to generate the user interface screen. For example, as shown in  FIG. 2 , user selection of this magnified image, e.g., by depressing a button on an input device (not shown), can result in a further zoom to display additional details. For example, information about the movie “Apollo 13” including, among other things, the movie&#39;s runtime, price and actor information is shown. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of information could be provided here. Additionally, this GUI screen includes GUI control objects including, for example, button control objects for buying the movie, watching a trailer or returning to the previous GUI screen (which could also be accomplished by depressing the ZOOM OUT button on the input device). Hyperlinks generated from metadata processed in a manner described below can also be used to allow the user to jump to, for example, GUI screens associated with the related movies identified in the lower right hand corner of the GUI screen of  FIG. 2  or information associated with the actors in this movie. In this example, some or all of the film titles under the heading “Filmography” can be implemented as hyperlinks which, when actuated by the user via the input device, will cause the GUI to display a GUI screen corresponding to that of  FIG. 2  for the indicated movie. Some or all of the information used to generate the interface screens of  FIGS. 1(   a ),  1 ( b ) and  2  comes from metadata provided by one or more metadata providers and processed in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention as will now be described. 
   The interface screens shown in  FIGS. 1(   a ),  1 ( b ) and 2 are purely exemplary and metadata (and other data) transferred and processed in accordance with the present invention can be used to support other interfaces or for purposes other than interface generation. Likewise, many different types of information can be received and processed in accordance with the present invention. Examples of metadata types, sources and associated uses, e.g., for a TV browser interface, a video-on-demand (VOD) interface or a music browser, are shown in the table of  FIG. 3 . Of particular interest for this detailed discussion are the zooming features associated with user interfaces generated in accordance with these exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Although the present invention is not limited to techniques or systems for generating zoomable user interfaces, some of the client/server features discussed herein are particularly beneficial for use in conjunction with user interfaces which include zooming transitions between user interface screens. For the purpose of this detailed description, the terms “zoom”, “zoomable” and “zooming” refer to techniques wherein a user interface action results in changes to the displayed portion of the user interface that a creates a change of perspective which is consistent and informative to the user. Zooming will typically include changes in object magnification (e.g., camera-style zooming), but is expressly not limited thereto. For example, another aspect of zooming in accordance with user interfaces is semantic zooming which includes the modification of a zoomed object in a manner which is independent of magnification, e.g., the addition of text or a graphic to an object which was not present as part of the object (at any level of magnification) prior to the semantic zoom. For more information related to zoomable user interfaces, the interested reader is referred to the above-identified, incorporated by reference patent application. 
   For context, one example of a zooming transitions in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention is the zooming transition between the user interface screen of  FIGS. 1(   a ) and  1 ( b ), which involves a magnification change of a hoverzoomed object and, optionally, semantic zooming to that object as well. Another example is found in the transition between the user interface screen of  FIG. 1(   b ) and  FIG. 2 , wherein the image associated with “Apollo 13” has its magnification changed (e.g., enlarged in  FIG. 2  relative to the similar image shown in  FIG. 1(   b )) and translated for use in  FIG. 2 . Panning effects can also be used to animate the zooming transition. 
   A general client-server architecture  40  for providing data processing and transport according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 4 . Therein, a user interface server  42  communicates with a client device  44  to generate a user interface on a display device  46  in conjunction with inputs from, for example, a pointing device  48 . Communication of data, e.g., metadata and content data, between the user interface server  42  and the client device  44  can involve any number of intermediate nodes (not shown) between the user interface server  42  and the client device  44  including hubs, distribution servers, and the like. Moreover, some or all of the functional elements illustrated as being part of the user interface server  42  can be located within one or more of these intermediate nodes or reside at the headend of the system  40 . The display device  46  can, for example, be a television, a computer monitor/display, or any other display device. The client device  44  can be embodied as a set-top box, a personal computer, or any other device including a processing unit. The pointer  48  can, for example, be a three-dimensional (hereinafter “3D”) pointing device, a mouse, a remote control device, a track ball, a joystick, or any other device capable of providing a pointing capability and can be connected to the client device  44  either via wireline or wirelessly. 
   According to this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the server  42  includes a transition and screen capturer  50 , an MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder, an MPEG and ZSD cache  54 , a scene request processor  56  and an MPEG stream transmitter  58 , which components operate to generate and manage the streaming of MPEG-2 data to client devices  44 , and to receive and respond to upstream requests from clients  44 . The transition and screen capturer  50  automates the gathering of scene data used to generate the user interface. At a high level, this can be accomplished by navigating through, e.g., a scene graph provided as input to the transition and screen capturer  50 , along with metadata and content, and calling the MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder  52  to generate MPEG-2 clips and scene description files associated with selected scenes to be displayed on display device  46 . Detailed information associated with scene description files and formats (also referred to herein as “ZSD data”) according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is provided below under the header “Scene Description Data Format”. 
   Navigation through the scene graph involves capturing and processing data associated with the various scenes which can be generated by the user interface. A “scene” as that term is used herein generally refers to the framework associated with any user interface screen which can be generated by the user interface which, despite the sophisticated and dynamic nature of user interfaces in accordance with the present invention, are all known a priori albeit at least some of the data used to populate the scenes will vary, e.g., over time as content providers change, for example, metadata associated with their offerings. Thus, although  FIGS. 1(   a ),  1 ( b ) and  2  show only portions of user interface screens, each of those complete screens would be considered to be a scene. Table 1 below lists exemplary data which can be collected for each transition and Table 2 lists exemplary data for each scene: 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 1 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Per-Transition Information 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               From Scene ID 
               The scene ID of the starting scene 
             
             
               To Scene ID 
               The scene ID of the destination scene 
             
             
               Focus Command 
               The command to move the focus in interface to the 
             
             
                 
               icon, button, etc. that causes the transition when 
             
             
                 
               selected. An example of a focus command is to 
             
             
                 
               move the mouse pointer over an icon to cause it to 
             
             
                 
               focus. Another focus command could directly 
             
             
                 
               activate a hoverzoom effect. 
             
             
               Activation 
               This command activates the icon, button, etc. to 
             
             
               Command 
               start the transition from the “From Location” to the 
             
             
                 
               “To Location”. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 2 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Scene Information 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Scene ID 
               The scene ID of the this scene 
             
             
               Location 
               The interface location instance for the starting scene 
             
             
               Scene Description 
               The user supplied description or an automatically 
             
             
                 
               generated description. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   The transition and scene capturer  50  is thus able to acquire all of the information necessary to simulate all desired transitions in the user interface from, for example, a database not shown in  FIG. 4  which contains the complete user interface “universe”. The transition and scene capturer  50  includes navigator controller and capture controller components which become active as a user generates inputs to the interface which command scene transitions. At a high level, the navigation controller has the responsibility of navigation to and from every transition and scene. An exemplary navigation controller performs the following operations, (1) obtain the next transition, (2) navigate to the “from” scene, (3) execute a focus command for this transition, (4) notify the capture controller with the scene and transition information, (5) execute the activation command, (6) notify the capture controller when the animation completes, (7) notify the capture controller with the scene and transition information reversed (for the back transition), (8) invoke a goBack( ) routine, and (9) notify the capture controller when the animation completes. 
   The capture controller integrates with the MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder  52  to create the MPEG-2 clips and ZSD files. The capture controller receives notifications from the navigation controller when the transition begins and ends and invokes routines on the MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder at every animation step. To provide a visual indication of the progress to the user, the capture controller ensures that the canvas still paints the visible scene graph to the scene and adds a text overlay that indicates the percent of transitions executed. 
   A detailed example of an MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder  52  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 5 . Raw scene data, e.g., images, text, metadata, etc., is delivered from the transition and screen capturer  50  and provided to an object extraction unit  502 , a client-rendered feature extraction unit  504  and a video information extraction unit  506 . The object extraction unit  502  (handling user-interactable objects on the user interface screens) and client-rendered feature extraction unit  504  (handling, e.g., hoverzoom and text, features to be rendered by the client device  44 ) operate, under the control of the render-location controller  508 , to extract information from the raw data stream and provide it to the ZSD encoder  507 , which encodes the extracted information using the scene description format described in detail below. None, some or all of the ZSD encoded data can be sent within the MPEG data stream, for example as part of the private data fields within MPEG frames, using MPEG-2 data encapsulator  509 , while other ZSD encoded data can be transmitted using the OOB link described above with respect to  FIG. 4 . 
   The video information extraction unit  506  operates to extract video information suitable for MPEG-2 encoding, again under the control of the render location controller  508 . The ability of render location controller  508  to selectively determine which type of encoding to apply to particular data, in this example MPEG or ZSD encoding, and the benefits associated therewith are described in more detail below with respect to  FIG. 11 . 
   As used herein, the term “MPEG encoding” is generic to MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and similar encodings, although some exemplary embodiments of the present invention do specifically refer to MPEG-2 encoding. General details associated with MPEG encoding per se will be known to those skilled in the art and are further available in the form of draft standards (e.g., ISO CD 11172). An exemplary MPEG-2 encoder  500  includes a plurality of unnumbered blocks which operate in accordance with the standard to perform MPEG-2 encoding (an exception being motion estimation unit  510  described in more detail below). One example of an MPEG encoder which provides a more detailed description of the unnumbered blocks of MPEG encoder  500  can be found in the various MPEG-2 standards documents, for example, Test Model 5 documents which evolved as a joint effort between ITU-T SG15.1 (known then as CCITT SG XV, Working Party XV/1, Experts Group on ATM Video Coding) and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29 WG11 (MPEG). Specifically, the MPEG version of Test Model 5 is known as MPEG 93/225b and the ITU version of Test Model 5 is known as AVC -445b, the disclosures of which are incorporated here by reference. MPEG encoded data is stored in 
   Of particular interest for exemplary embodiments of the present invention is the client user interface state machine  62 , a more detailed example of which is provided in  FIG. 7 . The client user interface state machine  62  interprets scene data and/or scripts received from the scene request processor  56  to present user interface scenes (e.g., as shown in  FIGS. 1(   a ),  1 ( b ) and  2 ) on client devices  44 . The client user interface state machine  62  can also retrieve scene data and MPEG-2 transition clips from either the headend  42  (as represented by block  700 ) or from a local hard disk drive  702 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, depending upon the system and/or type of client device involved, that only one data source  700 ,  702  may be present in a particular implementation of the present invention or that some other type of data source can be used. Out-of-band (QOB) communications  704  can be used to provide signaling and commands to the client user interface state machine  62  via an operating system (OS)  706 , e.g., PowerTV, Linux, Win32, etc., and operating system portal layer  708 . The OS and OS porting layer  706 ,  708  can also track the user&#39;s activities with respect to the user interface and provide data to an event mapper function  710 . Event mapper  710  translates user interface data, e.g., cursor movement, voice command input, motion of 3D pointer, etc., into events which may require some change in the user interface, e.g., display change, audio change, zooming transition, etc. For example, when the user&#39;s cursor hovers over or passes over the image of “Apollo 13” in  FIG. 1(   a ), the event mapper  710  would receive raw cursor data from the OS and map that into, for example, a hoverzoom event which results in that image being slightly magnified as illustrated in  FIG. 1(   b ) and described in more detail below. As another example, if the OS  706 ,  708  passed a button click through to the event mapper  710  while the cursor was positioned over the magnified version of the “Apollo 13” image in  FIG. 1(   b ), indicating that the user wanted more detail regarding this movie, then the event mapper  710  could identify a “transition to detailed view event” associated therewith, leading to a transition to the user interface screen of  FIG. 2 . 
   In order to accommodate random object movement to support all types of, e.g., video data compression, standard MPEG motion estimation algorithms perform a search for blocks of pixel data determine which blocks of pixels have moved (and in which direction) from frame to frame. For example, some searches, call full pel searches, use 16×16 blocks, while others, called half-pel searches, use 16×8 blocks. These searches can become computationally expensive, particularly for high definition video data, and has been estimated to require up to 80% of the processing time/power associated with the operations performed by a standard MPEG encoder  500  (e.g., without the modifications introduced by the encoder hint collector  512 ). Thus, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, motion estimation associated with MPEG encoding is simplified using the fact that the user interface being generated by these client/server architectures does not involve random movement of objects. For example, in transitioning between the exemplary user interface screens of  FIG. 1(   b ) and  2 , the image associated with “Apollo 13” moves from a first position on a display screen to a second position on a display screen (optionally with some magnification), both positions being known a priori to the encoder hint collector  512 , which can calculate an MPEG motion vector therefrom. 
   Thus, the encoder hint collector  512  can pass the MPEG motion vector to motion estimation unit  510  with a command to use the passed motion vector for performing MPEG compression rather than performing a search in accordance with standard MPEG techniques. However, this use of knowledge of interrelated user interface screens to generate MPEG motion vectors may not always be able to generate a valid MPEG motion vector (e.g., due to limitations on the number of bits assigned for expressing MPEG motion vectors). Accordingly, encoder hint collector  512  also has the capability to command motion estimation unit  510  to employ the standard MPEG search algorithm to determine motion vectors on a frame-by-frame (or other) basis. In addition to either (1) using motion vectors which are generated entirely using the standard MPEG search algorithm or (2) using motion vectors which are generated entirely by the encoder hint generator  512  without use of the standard MPEG search algorithm, a third category of motion vectors which can be determined in accordance with the present invention are those which are calculated by the standard MPEG search algorithm having a search range which is limited in range based on the information available to the encoder hint collector  512 . 
   Referring back again to  FIG. 4 , MPEG data and scene description data generated by blocks  50  and  52  can be cached in memory device  54  for retrieval as needed by the scene request processor  56 . The scene request processor  56  processes requests for scenes from client  44 , e.g., if the client user interface state machine  62  receives an indication that the cursor associated with pointer  48  has paused over the image associated with “Apollo 13” ( FIG. 1 ), then a request is sent back to scene request processor  56  to initiate a hoverzoom scene (described below) or if the client user interface state machine  62  receives an indication that the user wants to view a more detailed scene associated with “Apollo 13” ( FIG. 2 ), then a request is sent back to scene request processor  56  to initiate that scene. The scene request processor  56  returns MPEG-2 transitions and scene description data back to the client  44  in response to the upstream requests. According to exemplary embodiments described in more detail below, for certain upstream requests the scene request processor  56  may dynamically determine whether MPEG data, scene description data or some combination of both is appropriate to service the requests. A detailed example of the scene request processor  56  is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . 
   Therein, the client request processor  600  coordinates all client interaction, e.g., by interpreting client requests and dispatching those requests to the appropriate components within scene request processor  56 . For example, the client request processor tracks states and statistics on a per-client basis and stores such information in database  602 . An out-of-band (OOB) client communication component  604  handles all communication with clients over OOB channels, including responding to connection requests and extracting protocol requests. The video playback control function  606  coordinates the operation of the MPEG-2 stream generation components, e.g., the scene loop generator  608  and the transition playback function  610 . The scene loop generator  608  component generates loops of the user interface scenes and transmits them when no transitions occur. The transition playback function  610  loads MPEG-2 transition streams that were previously generated by the MPEG-2 transition and scene encoder  52  (e.g., via cache  54 ) and streams them to the requested client. The transition playback function  610  may serve multiple streams simultaneously. The MPEG-2 transport stream encapsulation unit  612  updates the MPEG-2 transport stream as appropriate and forwards the stream to the UDP encapsulation unit  614  which groups MPEG-2 transport stream packets together and sends them over UDP to a IP to QAM gateway (not shown) in the MPEG stream transmitter  58 . 
   Referring again to  FIG. 4 , MPEG stream transmitter  58 , on the server side, and MPEG stream receiver  64  and MPEG decoder  66 , on the client side, enable the communication of both metadata, e.g., data used to populate the text fields shown in the user interface screen of  FIG. 2 , and content via a video streaming protocol link. The MPEG transmitter  58 , receiver  64  and decoder  66  can be implemented using off-the-shelf components and, accordingly, are not described in detail herein. However readers interested in more details relating to these elements, as well as other exemplary interactive television system architectures in which the present invention can be implemented, are referred to U.S. Pat. No. 6,804,708 to Jerding et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. The on-screen display (OSD) graphics controller  68  receives data scene data from the client state machine  62  and input from the cursor controller  69  to generate overlay graphics and local animations, e.g., zooming transitions, for the user interface. The MPEG video data and the OSD video data output from decoder  66  and OSD graphics controller  68 , respectively, are combined by video combiner  70  and forwarded to display device  46  to generate the user interface. As mentioned above, the DVD cover art images shown in  FIG. 1(   a ) are examples of user interface elements created using MPEG video data, while the zoomed version of the “Apollo 13” image in  FIG. 1(   b ) and the circular icons in the upper right hand corner of the user interface screen of  FIG. 1(   a ) are examples of user interface elements generated using scene description data. 
   Of particular interest for exemplary embodiments of the present invention is the client user interface state machine  62 , a more detailed example of which is provided in  FIG. 7 . The client user interface state machine  62  interprets scene data and/or scripts received from the scene request processor  56  to present user interface scenes (e.g., as shown in  FIGS. 1(   a ),  1 ( b ) and  2 ) on client devices  44 . The client user interface state machine  62  can also retrieve scene data and MPEG -2 transition clips from either the headend  42  (as represented by block  700 ) or from a local hard disk drive  702 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, depending upon the system and/or type of client device involved, that only one data source  700 ,  702  may be present in a particular implementation of the present invention or that some other type of data source can be used. Out-of-band (OOB) communications  704  can be used to provide signaling and commands to the client user interface state machine  62  via an operating system (OS)  706 , e.g., PowerTV, Linux, Win32, etc., and operating system portal layer  708 . The OS and OS porting layer  706 ,  708  can also track the user&#39;s activities with respect to the user interface and provide data to an event mapper function  710 . Event mapper  710  translates user interface data, e.g., cursor movement, voice command input, motion of free space pointer, etc., into events which may require some change in the user interface, e.g., display change, audio change, zooming transition, etc. For example, when the user&#39;s cursor hovers over or passes over the image of “Apollo 13” in  FIG. 1(   a ), the event mapper  710  would receive raw cursor data from the OS and map that into, for example, a hoverzoom event which results in that image being slightly magnified as illustrated in  FIG. 1(   b ) and described in more detail below. As another example, if the OS  706 ,  708  passed a button click through to the event mapper  710  while the cursor was positioned over the magnified version of the “Apollo 13” image in  FIG. 1(   b ), indicating that the user wanted more detail regarding this movie, then the event mapper  710  could identify a “transition to detailed view event” associated therewith, leading to a transition to the user interface screen of  FIG. 2 . 
   Events detected by event mapper  710  are queued in the event queue  712  for processing by event processor  714 . The event processor  714  coordinates the activities of the client user interface state machine  62  by receiving events from the event queue  712  and dispatching them to the action library  716  based on, for example, the currently active scene data and/or script. The action library  716 , in conjunction with a scene data loader  720  and various storage units  718 ,  722 , operates to generate the change(s) to the currently displayed user interface screen based on the detected event as will be described in more detail below with respect to the discussion of scene data. 
   Scene Description Data Format 
   Having described some exemplary server/client architecture for generating user interfaces according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a second exemplary data format (in addition to MPEG/MPEG-2) which can be used in conjunction with this architecture will now be described. Although other data formats can be used in conjunction with the present invention, this exemplary data format effectively creates a state machine that enables the client device  44  to respond to user interactions and system events. This data format is arbitrarily extensible to support both very low powered client devices  44  and high end client devices  44 , e.g., PCs. Other goals of this exemplary scene data format (also referred to as “ZSD”) include theme support, future language support, demo scripting, and automated test support. 
   The ZSD format supports two types of scenes: the exclusive scene and overlay scenes. Herein, the exclusive scene is referred to simply as the scene, since it occupies the full screen and contains the primary user interaction elements. Overlay scenes describe full or partial scenes that the client user interface state machine  62  logically overlays on top of the exclusive scene. While the exclusive scene changes as the user navigates, the overlay scenes may or may not change. This enables them to support features such as music controls, global navigation, bookmarks, etc., that follow the user as they navigate from exclusive scene to scene. Exclusive scenes launch overlay scenes initially, but overlay scenes may launch other overlays. Although it is possible to terminate all overlay scenes, the overlay scenes control their own lifetime based on interaction from the user or based on the current exclusive scene. 
   The exclusive scene and all overlay scenes logically exist in their own namespaces. In order for ZSD elements to refer to elements in other scenes, ZSD references as described herein could be modified to include a field to specify the namespace. Inter-scene communication is useful for operations such as notifying overlay scenes what is in the exclusive scene. To support inter-scene communication, the sender triggers actions to generate events. These events are then dispatched by the event processor  714  to each scene. When the event contains a Resource ID, that ID is mapped to an equivalent resource in the destination scene. If the destination scene does not contain an equivalent resource, the event processor  714  moves on to test dispatching the event to the next scene. 
   Every exclusive scene passes through the following states sequentially on the client, (1) Entered, (2) Loaded, (3) Steady State, (4) Unloading and (5) Exited. When the exclusive scene&#39;s ZSD data is initially decoded, the scene enters the Entered state. At this point, the event processor  714  fires the OnLoad event so that the exclusive scene can perform any initial actions. Once the event processor  714  completes the OnLoad event dispatch process, the exclusive scene enters the Loaded state. At this point, the event processor  714  may have pending events in its queue  712 . The event processor  714  clears out this queue  712  and then transitions the exclusive scene to its Steady State.  FIG. 8  illustrates an exemplary exclusive scene life cycle using scene membership messaging to show event processing in all states. The process for unloading an exclusive scene is essentially the reverse of the load process. For this case, a GoToScene or other scene-changing action initiates the unload process. At this point, the exclusive scene changes to the Unloading state. Once all ZSD unload processing completes, the process transitions to the Exited state, wherein the client may optionally retain some or all of the exclusive scene&#39;s ZSD data. The changes in the exclusive scene&#39;s state are communicated to all currently loaded overlay scenes so the overlay scene can take action (if needed). 
   Overlay scenes exist independent and on top of the exclusive scene. For example, in  FIG. 1(   a ) the three icons depicted in the upper righthand corner (home, up arrow and TV) can be implemented as overlay scenes on the exclusive scene (the images of various DVD covers, implemented in the MPEG layer). Another example, not shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , is the provision of volume control and/or channel selection user interface objects as overlay scenes. Termination of an overlay scene can be accomplished from within the scene itself, or by request from the exclusive scene. Additionally, SceneMembershipNotifcation events can be used to limit the lifetime of an overlay scene to a particular set of exclusive scenes as shown, for example, in  FIG. 9 . Each of the exclusive scenes that belong to this scene group would send a SceneMembershipNotification message when they are loaded. The overlay scene associated with this scene group would use the ExclusiveSceneChange events and the SceneMembershipNotification message to tell if the overlay scene should stay loaded or should terminate itself. As long as it receives a SceneMembershipNotifaction that matches its Scene Group, the overlay screen can stay loaded. Triple tables (mentioned in  FIG. 9)  are described in more detail below. 
   According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each scene contains the following descriptive information: 
                             TABLE 3                   Scene Information Fields            Field   Description               Scene ID   A globally unique ID for this scene       Description   An optional string description to help identify this scene to a           developer       SceneDimension   The dimensions used to layout the scene       ZSD Format Version   This field has the integer value one.       ZSD Profile   This field is the name of the minimally supported profile.           Currently it can take on the value “Simple” and “Advanced”.       Maximum Action Stack Size   This field specifies the maximum number of elements that           may be pushed onto the Action Stack for this scene.       Cache Property Type   This field specifies how a ZSD interpreter may cache this           scene.       Cache Property Value   This field can be used to specify a 32 bit integer value           based on the Cache Property Type. It should be set to 0 if           unused.                    
In order to improve ZSD load time performance, a client device  44  may optionally implement a ZSD cache  722 . ZSD-encoded scenes specify caching properties to direct clients when the caching behavior is no longer useful. For example, temporally important information such as sports scores should not be cached for a long period of time. Table 4 lists exemplary caching properties types and describes their use.
 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 4 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Cache Properties 
             
           
        
         
             
               Cache Property 
                 
                 
             
             
               Type 
               Description 
               Property Value Units 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Timeout 
               Time out this scene after 
               Seconds 
             
             
                 
               the specified number of seconds. 
             
             
                 
               (0 seconds implies no caching) 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   An exemplary scene data format according to the present invention has four fundamental data types (sometimes referred to herein as “elements”), specifically objects, events, actions, and resources. At a high level, objects describe scene components such as the bounds for buttons and icons in the MPEG layer, overlay text, and overlay images. Events describe the notifications that are pertinent to the scene. These include mouse (pointer) move events, keyboard events, application state change events, etc. Actions describe responses to events such as going to another scene, and finally, resources contain the raw data used by objects, events, and actions, e.g., image data. Each of these data types are described in more detail below. 
   Exemplary object types and parameters associated therewith (including an optional set of properties) according to an exemplar embodiment of the present invention are described in tables 5-8. 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 5 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Object Types 
             
           
        
         
             
               Object Type 
               Value 
               Parameters 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               WholeScene 
               0 
               None 
               The whole scene object, OID 0, has this type. 
             
             
               Bounds 
               1 
               X, Y, Width, 
               This object specifies a rectangular bound in 
             
             
                 
                 
               Height 
               the scene coordinate system. 
             
             
               PNode 
               2 
               X, Y, Width, 
               This object specifies a PNode with the specified 
             
             
                 
                 
               Height, Parent 
               bounds 
             
             
                 
                 
               Object 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 6 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Reserved Object IDs 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               Name 
               Object ID 
               Type 
               Description 
             
             
                 
                 
             
             
                 
               WholeScene 
               0 
               WholeScene 
               The whole scene 
             
             
                 
               Reserved 
               1-63 
               N/A 
               Reserved 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 7 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Object Type Support 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               Object Type 
               Simple Profile 
               Advanced Profile 
             
             
                 
                 
             
             
                 
               WholeScene 
               ✓ 
               ✓ 
             
             
                 
               Bounds 
               ✓ 
               ✓ 
             
             
                 
               PNode 
               x 
               ✓ 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 8 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Object Properties 
             
           
        
         
             
               Property Type 
               Parameters 
               Required For: 
               Optional For: 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Cursor 
               Cursor Resource ID 
               WholeScene 
               Bounds, PNode 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Like the other scene description format elements, each event is assigned a globally unique value. Some event types employ filters to constrain the actions that they would trigger. For example, the OnKeyPress event uses the key of interest. In addition to filters, events can push resources onto the action stack, described below. Actions may use the information on the stack to modify their behavior. 
   Exemplary event types are listed in Table 9 below. Overlay scenes affect the propagation of events by the dispatcher. Dispatch semantics are abbreviated in the table as follows: 
   
       
       
         
           1. Active—the dispatcher sends the event only to the active scene. For example, when a scene is loaded, the OnLoad event only gets sent to that scene. 
           2. Scenes with Resource Filters—the dispatcher only sends these events to scenes that contain Resource Table entries for the event. Before iterating through a scene&#39;s triple table, the event dispatcher remaps the Resource IDs in the event to their equivalents in the scene. 
           3. Overlays Only—the dispatcher only sends these events to overlay scenes. 
           4. Both—the dispatcher first sends this event to the overlay scenes and then to the exclusive scene 
         
       
     
  
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 9 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Event Types 
             
           
        
         
             
               Event Type 
               Value 
               Semantics 
               Filter 
               Action Stack 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
               OnLoad 
               0 
               Active 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the object gets loaded. 
             
             
               OnKeyPress 
               1 
               Both 
               Key 
               Key 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user presses a key or 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               remote control button. 
             
             
               OnKeyRelease 
               2 
               Both 
               Key 
               Key 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user releases a key or 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               remote control button. 
             
             
               OnKeyTyped 
               3 
               Both 
               Key 
               Key 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user types a key. If 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the key supports auto- 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               repeat, the system sends 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               this event repeatedly 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               while the key is down. 
             
             
               OnMouseEnter 
               4 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the mouse pointer goes 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               over the object. 
             
             
               OnMouseExit 
               5 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the mouse pointer exits 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the bounds of the object. 
             
             
               OnMousePress 
               6 
               Both 
               Button 
               X, Y, Button 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user presses a mouse 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               button. 
             
             
               OnMouseRelease 
               7 
               Both 
               Button 
               X, Y, Button 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user releases a 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               mouse button. 
             
             
               OnMouseClick 
               8 
               Both 
               Button 
               X, Y, Button 
               The event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the user presses and 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               releases a mouse button. 
             
             
               OnFocusIn 
               9 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the associated object 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               receives focus. Other 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               events generally cause 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               focus such as key presses 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               and mouse enter. 
             
             
               OnFocusOut 
               10 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the associated object 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               loses focus. 
             
             
               OnSceneMembers 
               11 
               Scenes 
               SceneMembership 
               SceneMembership 
               This event gets sent when 
             
             
               hipNotification 
                 
               with 
               Resource 
               Resource ID 
               a NotifySceneMembership 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource 
               ID 
                 
               action gets fired. 
             
             
                 
                 
               Arguments 
             
             
               OnScrollUp 
               12 
               Both 
               Wheel 
               Wheel 
               This event gets fired for 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               every notch that the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified scroll wheel 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               moves up. 
             
             
               OnScrollDown 
               13 
               Both 
               Wheel 
               Wheel 
               This event gets fired for 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               every notch that the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified scroll wheel 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               moves down. 
             
             
               OnTimeout 
               14 
               Both 
               Timer 
               Timer 
               This event gets fired when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               a timer expires. 
             
             
               OnActivate 
               15 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets fired when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               an object gets activated. 
             
             
               OnExclusiveScene 
               16 
               Overlays 
               Entered, 
               None 
               This event gets fired when 
             
             
               Change 
                 
               Only 
               Loaded, 
                 
               the exclusive scene 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               Unloading, 
                 
               changes. The argument 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               Exited 
                 
               specifies the exact 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               moment in the scene 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               change. See the scene 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the scene life cycle 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               sequence diagram. 
             
             
               OnUnload 
               17 
               Both 
               None 
               None 
               This event gets fired when 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               an object gets unloaded 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               as the result of a scene 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               change. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   In operation of the architectures and methods described herein, the result of an event on an object is an action. Actions may be linked together in a ZSD Action Table to form programs. To facilitate parameter passing to actions from events and to linked actions, a ZSD interpreter maintains an action stack. The action stack is initialized before dispatching the first action in an action list with the following items in order:
         1. The object in the triple table entry that triggered the action   2. The event in the triple table entry that triggered the action   3. Elements pushed onto the action stack from the event
 
Before dispatching each action, the ZSD interpreter logically pushes the parameters of the action onto the stack. Implementations may short-circuit this behavior on built-in actions for simplicity. Each action type specifies its use of the stack. In general, a ZSD interpreter will only be able to allocate a small action stack (e.g. 16-32 elements), so stack usage should be kept to a minimum. To ensure that the ZSD interpreter always has a sufficient stack, the ZSD encoder must specify the maximum stack size in the header. All action types should avoid recursion to simplify the maximum stack size calculation. Exemplary action types are listed below in Table 10.
       

   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 10 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Action Types 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               Action Stack 
                 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Post 
                 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Stack 
             
             
               Action Type 
               Value 
               Parameters 
               Inputs 
               Outputs 
               Delta 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
               NoAction 
               0 
               None 
               None 
               None 
               0 
               This action is a 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               NOP. 
             
             
               GoToScene 
               1 
               Scene ID, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               This action causes 
             
             
                 
                 
               Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               the client to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               animate to a new 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               location in the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified time. If 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the server context 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               buffer has 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               information, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command bundles 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context with the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene navigation 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               request. 
             
             
               NavigateBack 
               2 
               Count 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Navigate the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified number of 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scenes back in 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               history. If the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               history does not 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               contain that many 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scenes, it navigates 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               back as far as 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               possible. If the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               server context 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               buffer has 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               information, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command bundles 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context with the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene navigation 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               request. 
             
             
               NavigateForward 
               3 
               Count 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Navigate the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified number of 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scenes forward in 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               history. It the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               history does not 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               contain that many 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scenes, it navigates 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               forward as far as 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               possible. If the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               server context 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               buffer has 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               information, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command bundles 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context with the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene navigation 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               request. 
             
             
               NavigateHome 
               4 
               None 
               None 
               None 
               0 
               Navigate to the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               home scene. If the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               server context 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               buffer has 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               information, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command bundles 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context with the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene navigation 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               request. 
             
             
               NavigateUp 
               5 
               Count, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Navigate to the 
             
             
                 
                 
               Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               scene that is 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               geographically up n 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               times in the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified time. If 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the server context 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               buffer has 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               information, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command bundles 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context with the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene navigation 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               request. 
             
             
               StartTimer 
               6 
               Timer, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Start a timer that 
             
             
                 
                 
               Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               sends a timeout 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               event in the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified duration. 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Timers are global to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the scene. 
             
             
               StopTimer 
               7 
               Timer 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Stop the specified 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               timer. 
             
             
               StartHoverZoom 
               8 
               X, Y, Width, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −7 
               Hoverzoom to the 
             
             
                 
                 
               Height, 
                 
                 
                 
               end coordinates (x, 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource 
                 
                 
                 
               y, width, height) 
             
             
                 
                 
               ID, Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               over the specified 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               duration, using the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Resource ID 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               associated with a 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               HoverZoomPixelData 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               resource to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               create the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               HoverZoom. 
             
             
               StopHoverZoom 
               9 
               Duration 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Stop the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               hoverzoom over the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified number of 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               millisecond 
             
             
               Focus 
               10 
               Object ID 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Force the focus to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               change to the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified object. 
             
             
               ChangePointer 
               11 
               Resource 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Change the pointer 
             
             
                 
                 
               ID, Object 
                 
                 
                 
               to that specified by 
             
             
                 
                 
               ID 
                 
                 
                 
               the Resource ID 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               when over the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               object specified by 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the Object ID. 
             
             
               ChangePointerVisibility 
               12 
               Visible, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               True to show the 
             
             
                 
                 
               Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               pointer; false to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               hide it. Animate for 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified duration. 
             
             
               MovePointer 
               13 
               X, Y, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −3 
               Move the pointer to 
             
             
                 
                 
               Duration 
                 
                 
                 
               the specified 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               location over the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified duration. 
             
             
               Activate 
               14 
               Object ID 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Activate the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified object. 
             
             
               PushServerContext 
               15 
               Resource ID 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Push the specified 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               resource for 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               transmission back 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               to the server. 
             
             
               ReportServerContext 
               16 
               None 
               None 
               None 
               0 
               Report the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               gathered context to 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the server. If no 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               pending context, 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               then this action is 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               ignored. After the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               report, this 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               command clears 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the context buffer. 
             
             
               CreateTextObject 
               17 
               Object ID, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Show the text 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource ID 
                 
                 
                 
               object specified by 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the Resource ID 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               using the Object 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified by the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Object ID 
             
             
               CreateImageObject 
               18 
               Object ID, 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Show the image 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource ID 
                 
                 
                 
               specified by the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Resource ID using 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the Object specified 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               by the Object ID 
             
             
               NotifySceneMembership 
               19 
               SceneMembership 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Notify scene 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource ID 
                 
                 
                 
               membership. This 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               is usually done in 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               response to an 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               OnLoad event. 
             
             
               StartOverlayScene 
               20 
               Overlay 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −2 
               Load and start the 
             
             
                 
                 
               Scene 
                 
                 
                 
               specified overlay 
             
             
                 
                 
               Resource ID 
                 
                 
                 
               scene. 
             
             
               TerminateOverlayScene 
               21 
               None 
               None 
               None 
               0 
               Terminate the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               current overlay 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               scene. Triggering 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               this action from the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               main scene does 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               nothing. 
             
             
               TerminateAllOverlayScenes 
               22 
               None 
               None 
               None 
               0 
               Terminate all 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               overlay scenes. 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               This action is useful 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               for resyncing client 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               and server state. 
             
             
               SetActiveTripleTable 
               23 
               Triple Table 
               Parameters 
               None 
               −1 
               Set the active Triple 
             
             
                 
                 
               Index 
                 
                 
                 
               Table. Index 0 is 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               the set by default. 
             
             
               RunScript 
               24 
               Resource ID 
               Parameters 
               0+ 
               Arbitrary 
               Interpret the 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
               specified script 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Exemplary resources which can be used in conjunction with the present invention are listed below in Table 11. 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 11 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Resource Types 
             
           
        
         
             
               Resource Type 
               Value 
               Parameters 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               UTF8String 
               0 
               UTF8String 
               This resource type holds string characters 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               from the UTF8 character set. The string may 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               not exceed 256 characters. 
             
             
               UnicodeString 
               1 
               UnicodeString 
               This resource type holds Unicode characters. 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               The string may not exceed 256 characters. 
             
             
               MPEG2TransitionClip 
               2 
               Scene ID, 
               This resource type points to an MPEG-2 clip 
             
             
                 
                 
               Scene ID, 
               file for the transition between the two scenes. 
             
             
                 
                 
               MPEG-2 clip 
               Scenes list all of the MPEG-2 clips for clients 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               with hard disk support or for servers. These 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               clips may change based on the current 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               theme. 
             
             
               Cursor 
               3 
               Image 
               This resource holds the cursor image. 
             
             
               Image 
               4 
               Image 
               This resource holds an image. 
             
             
               HoverZoom 
               5 
               PixMask, 
               This resource holds the image data for 
             
             
                 
                 
               FGTransPix, 
               creating a hoverzoom. 
             
             
                 
                 
               FGOpaquePix, 
             
             
                 
                 
               BGPix 
             
             
               SceneMembership 
               6 
               UTF8String 
               This resource identifies a scene&#39;s members 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               such as belonging to a application. 
             
             
               OverlayScene 
               7 
               Scene 
               This resource holds an embedded ZSD 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
               description for an overlay scene. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the scene description format group&#39;s all scene interaction information into five tables: the object table, the event table, the action table, the resource table and one or more triple tables as described below in Tables 12-17. This division into tables eliminates most redundant information and enables quick lookup of interaction behavior on low end clients  44 . 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 12 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               ZSD Tables 
             
           
        
         
             
               Table 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Object Table 
               This table lists all of the objects in the scene. Objects may 
             
             
                 
               be high level entities such as PNodes or just regions on the 
             
             
                 
               scene. 
             
             
               Event Table 
               This table lists all events that need processing on this 
             
             
                 
               scene. A client may ignore any event not listed in this table. 
             
             
               Action Table 
               This table lists all actions that can be invoked on objects on 
             
             
                 
               this scene. 
             
             
               Resource 
               This table contains strings and images. Its main use is to 
             
             
               Table 
               decouple the string and image data from the above tables 
             
             
                 
               so that it is trivial for the server to switch themes and 
             
             
                 
               languages. 
             
             
               Triple Table 
               This table associates objects, events, and actions. A ZSD 
             
             
                 
               encoding may include more than one triple table and use 
             
             
                 
               actions to switch between the active one. This enables the 
             
             
                 
               creation of state machines within a scene. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 13 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Object Table Fields 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Object ID 
               A unique ID for this object. OID number 0 represents the 
             
             
                 
               whole scene. 
             
             
               Object Type 
               The type of the object 
             
             
               Description 
               An optional string description to make the XML clearer 
             
             
               Parameters 
               Additional parameters that describe the object 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 14 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Event Table Fields 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Event ID 
               A unique ID for this event 
             
             
               Event Type 
               The type of the event 
             
             
               Description 
               An optional string description to make the XML clearer 
             
             
               Parameters 
               Additional parameters that describe the event 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 15 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Action Table Fields 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Action ID 
               A unique ID for this action 
             
             
               Action Type 
               The type of the action 
             
             
               Next Action 
               The Action ID of the next action to run. Specify the 
             
             
                 
               NoAction instance to stop executing actions. It is illegal to 
             
             
                 
               specify a loop of actions. 
             
             
               Description 
               An optional string description to make the XML clearer 
             
             
               Parameters 
               Additional parameters that describe the action 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 16 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
             
               Resource Table Fields 
             
           
        
         
             
               Field 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Resource ID 
               A unique ID for this resource 
             
             
               Theme ID 
               The theme ID for this resource 
             
             
               Language ID 
               The language ID for this resource 
             
             
               Resource Type 
               The type of the resource 
             
             
               Description 
               An optional string description to make the XML clearer 
             
             
               Parameters 
               Additional parameters that describe the resource 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
                             TABLE 17                   Triple Table Fields            Field Type   Description               Object ID   The triple&#39;s object       Event ID   The event to monitor       Action ID   The action to invoke upon receiving the event       Boolean   True to terminate event processing if this triple matches an           event       Description   An optional string description to make the XML clearer                    
Various additional information regarding an exemplary scene data format according to the present invention can be found in the above-incorporated by reference priority application.
 
   Client devices  44  without local storage request scenes and transitions from the server  42 . An exemplary set of messages which can be used to perform this function is provided below in Table 18. The client/server link can, for example, be made over an Ethernet connection, QPSK channels (used by cable networks currently for OOB communications) or any other protocol or type of connection. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this message set is purely exemplary and that messages can be added or deleted therefrom. 
                                                       TABLE 18                   Client-Server Messages            Message Name   ID   Source   Description                    RequestScene   0   Client   Request the specified scene.       RequestSceneAck   1   Server   Acknowledgment that the server is sending                   the requested scene.       SceneDetails   2   Server   The server may send this to the client if it                   does not send scene details in-band with                   the MPEG-2 scene transitions       DebugControl   3   Server   The server sends this message to                   enable/disable debug logging and remote                   control support on the client.       LogMessage   4   Client   Log a text message. The client only                   sends this message in debug mode.       NotifyEvent   5   Client   Notify that an event has occurred. The                   client only sends this message in debug mode.       NotifyAction   6   Client   Notify that an action has been fired. The                   client only sends this message in debug                   mode.       NotifyTriple   7   Client   Notify that a triple table entry matched.                   The client only sends this message in debug mode.       GenerateEvent   8   Server   Generate and fire the specified event on                   the client. These events will be fired                   event in lockout mode. The client only                   accepts this message in debug mode.       Lockout   9   Server   Lockout/unlock all user-generated events                   on the client. Example events include                   mouse and keyboard events. The client                   only accepts this message in debug                   mode.       Identity   10   Client   The client sends this message every time                   that it establishes a connection with the                   server to identify itself.       NotifyServerContext   11   Client   The client sends this message when its                   server context buffer is not empty and an                   action command invokes a server                   notification or request.       RequestScreenCapture   12   Server   The server sends this message to request                   that the client take a snapshot of the                   screen and send it back to the server in a                   ScreenCapture message.       ScreenCapture   13   Client   This is the response message to                   RequentScreenCapture. It contains the                   snapshot.                    
Hoverzoom
 
   As mentioned above, one feature of exemplary client-server architectures and methods according to the present invention is to provide the capability for sophisticated user interfaces to be generated at the client-side, while taking into account the relatively small amount of available memory and/or processing power associated with some existing client devices. One example of the ways in which the above-described systems and methods address this issue can be seen with respect to the user interface interaction referred to herein as a “hoverzoom”, e.g., the process whereby when a user rolls a cursor over and/or pauses an indicator relative to a media item that can be selected, the image associated therewith is magnified so that the user can easily see which object is poised for selection, an example of which is illustrated in  FIGS. 1(   a ) and  1 ( b ). 
   There are a number of challenges associated with implementing a hoverzoom feature in bandwidth limited systems, such as interactive television systems wherein the client devices have limited memory and/or processing power. Consider the example wherein the user interface screen illustrated in  FIG. 1(   a ) is rendered using MPEG data streams transmitted from the user interface server  42  to the client  44  containing the cover art images associated with various movies. This visual portion of the user interface screen will be referred to herein as the background layer. When the event mapper  710  and event processor  714  recognize that the user has triggered a hoverzoom response, a foreground layer (e.g., the magnified version of the “Apollo 13 image) is generated and used to modify the user interface screen of  FIG. 1(   a ). There are several possibilities for providing the data used to transition from the user interface screen shown in  FIG. 1(   a ) to the user interface screen shown in  FIG. 1(   b ). One way to implement the hoverzoom effect is to have the user interface server  42  transmit complete sets of MPEG data corresponding to both the background layer and the foreground layer to the client  44 . However, when one considers that the user can roll the cursor over a potentially very large number of screen objects in the user interface, e.g., dozens or hundreds, quite rapidly, the amount of data needed to be transmitted by the user interface server  42  could be quite large to implement this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, resulting in additional delay in rendering the screen transitions on the client device  44 . 
   Moreover, it can be seen from comparing  FIG. 1(   a ) with  FIG. 1(   b ) that a significant portion of the pixel data associated with the unzoomed version of  FIG. 1(   a ) is reused in creating the hoverzoomed version of  FIG. 1(   b ). Thus, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the relationship between pixels in the background layer and the foreground layer can be determined and used to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted to the client device  44  to generate a hoverzoom effect. Depending upon the object to be magnified as part of the hoverzoom effect, this relationship can be relatively simple or somewhat more complex. For example, enlarging the size of the rectangular DVD cover art images of  FIG. 1(   a ) primarily involves enlarging a rectangular image to occlude neighboring images as part of the transition. On the other hand, more complex shapes, e.g., a doughnut shaped object with a hole in the center, present more complex situations for generating a hoverzoom effect. Consider that as the doughnut-shaped object is enlarged, the hole in the middle will expand such that background layer pixels that were previously hidden, become revealed after the hoverzoom effect has occurred. 
   According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each pixel in the foreground version of the image is categorized as being one of: (1) completely opaque (can extract pixel color from background layer, so do not need to resend for foreground layer generation) (2) transparent (irrelevant, so do not need to resend for foreground layer), (3) translucent (e.g., pixels around edges of image can have anti-aliasing applied thereto, need to send foreground layer data for these pixels) and (4) null (e.g., doughnut “hole” pixels which reveal background pixels, need to send background layer pixels since those cannot necessarily be extracted from background layer that was originally sent to create the unzoomed interface screen). This categorization can be done a priori using any desired technique, including manual observation and/or using the pseudocode processing techniques described below, and a foreground/background map is generated wherein each pixel in the foreground layer is categorized. A hoverzoom map can be stored for each image for which a hoverzoom effect can be triggered in the user interface. 
                               To Capture Background       for (node = scenegraph.rootO; node != foreground node; node = next node) if (node bounds within          foreground bounds)             paint node to background image       To Capture Foreground       Draw the foreground node to an image with the foreground&#39;s original size (low-res foreground)       Draw the foreground node to an image with the foreground&#39;s maximum size (high-res foreground)       After mapping, this data is encoded to reduce the amount of data to be saved and transferred at steps       1010 and 1012 using, for example, the following pseudocode to evaluate the relevance of the       background pixels based on alpha information.       To Capture Alpha Information       Calculate Foreground Node starting bounds Calculate Foreground Node ending bounds       Create an alpha image the size of the foreground starting bounds which only contains alpha values,       initialized to opaque       Set the image&#39;s alpha composite rule to keep the minimum value of either its current value or the       value of the pixel being drawn to it       while (foreground.size() &lt;ending bounds) draw foreground to alpha image          increase foreground size       To calculate which pixels are needed for the background image       Any pixels in the original background image which are transparent are irrelevant       For all remaining relevant background pixels          If (low-res foreground pixel is transparent)             Background pixel is irrelevant          Else if (low-res foreground pixel is opaque and captured alpha pixel is opaque) Background             pixel is irrelevant          Else             Background pixel is relevant                    
Depending upon the particular image to be encoded in this way, most of the foreground layer pixels will be designated as opaque and need not be resent to the client device  44  to generate the hoverzoom effect.
 
   Hoverzoom processing in accordance with this exemplary embodiment of the present invention is generally illustrated in  FIG. 10 . Therein, an MPEG (background) version of the image  1000  and an unzoomed version  1002  of the image to be magnified (for example, Apollo 13 in  FIG. 1(   a )), e.g., PNG or JPEG, are provided. The background image  1000  is combined with the unzoomed version 1002 of the image at step  1004  and transmitted to the client device  44  in the MPEG data stream, after compression at step  1006 . The foreground/background map described above is retrieved from storage at step  1008 , and used to determine which pixel data associated with the foreground layer and the background layer needs to be transmitted. That data is encoded (compressed) at steps  1010  and  1012 , saved as a ZSD image file at step  1014  and transmitted to the client device  44 . Although this exemplary embodiment of the present invention transmits this information as scene data (ZSD data) outside of the MPEG data stream, it can alternatively be embedded in the MPEG data stream. 
   As will be appreciated by reading the foregoing discussion of hoverzoom techniques in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, some of the challenges associated with generating sophisticated user interfaces (e.g., which employ zooming) at client devices connected to, for example, a cable network, can be addressed by intelligent selection of an encoding stream for particular data to be transmitted. In the foregoing hoverzoom example, background data was sent using the MPEG encoding stream available in such networks, while the foreground information was sent using a different type of encoding (described above), handled for presentation through the OSD layer. However, exemplary embodiments of the present invention contemplate that other server/client data transfers may benefit from selectively deciding, at one of the upstream nodes which is supplying data to the client device  44 , which type of encoding/data stream is appropriate for data to be transmitted, in particular for data associated with zooming user interfaces. 
   This general concept is illustrated in  FIG. 11 . Therein, data is evaluated at block  1100  to determine whether it is first data or second data and selectively determining a type of encoding (and associated transmit data stream) for handling that data. First and second data can be different types of data or the same type of data having different characteristics. An example of the foregoing is the hoverzoom data (background data being first data and foreground data being second data). An example of the latter is text. MPEG encoding is not particularly efficient for encoding text and, accordingly, it may be desirable to encode text under certain circumstances using another type of encoding, e.g., if the text to be transmitted is less than a predetermined font size (e.g., 16 point). 
   Systems and methods for processing metadata according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be performed by processors executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory device (not shown). Such instructions may be read into the memory device from other computer-readable mediums such as secondary data storage device(s). Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the memory device causes the processor to operate, for example, as described above. In alternative embodiments, hard-wire circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. 
   The above-described exemplary embodiments are intended to be illustrative in all respects, rather than restrictive, of the present invention. Thus the present invention is capable of many variations in detailed implementation that can be derived from the description contained herein by a person skilled in the art. For example, although MPEG encoding and MPEG data streams have been described in the foregoing exemplary embodiments, it will be appreciated that different types of encodings and data streams can be substituted therefore in part or in whole, e.g., video encodings used in Windows Media-based content and the like. Moreover, although (MPEG) image and/or video data is described as being transmitted through all or part of a cable network, the present invention is equally applicable to systems wherein the image and/or video data is available locally, e.g., on a home disk or from a local server. All such variations and modifications are considered to be within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the following claims. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items.