Abstract:
Controlling the admission of interactive television iTV applications to an iTV application distribution system is accomplished through the use of iTV application profiles that enumerate sets of allowed functions and behaviors for the iTV applications within the distribution system. In general, the profiles comprise filters that enable various functions within the distribution system, and may be applied to the iTV applications according to any of a number of bases. The distribution system includes an interface or console adapted to permit a system operator to create the application profiles and establish rules for attaching the profiles to the iTV applications, and an application profile engine configured to automatically validate the iTV applications against the profiles according to those rules.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is related to and hereby claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/486,568, filed Jul. 11, 2003, and is also a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/390,064, filed Mar. 14, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,042,132 (the “&#39;064 Application”). Each of these applications is incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD OF TILE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to systems and methods for enabling and automating the delivery of interactive television content to subscribers. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Interactive television (iTV) is currently available in varying forms and there is perhaps no single, universally accepted definition for this term. Most, however, would agree that iTV combines, in some form or other, the passive viewing experience of traditional TV viewing with the interactive nature of the World Wide Web. Thus, in different implementations, iTV might allow viewers (perhaps more appropriately termed subscribers) to review local news headlines or weather forecasts while watching their favorite television shows, to chat with other viewers about the latest plot twists. Many cable and satellite TV providers have deployed iTV systems that allow subscribers to order products seen in commercials or video on demand presentations with the click of a remote control button. And certainly all iTV systems have a version of an interactive program guide that allows subscribers to learn about and select desired programming. 
     These and other iTV services are deployed as a set of applications over the service provider&#39;s network. Such applications are received at the subscriber&#39;s premises via a set-top box or similar unit, where they are executed and the corresponding data is displayed on a television. Managing these applications, however, is difficult for the system operator because the applications are often provided by different vendors. Therefore, an application management system that is capable of controlling deployment of iTV applications would be desirable. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one embodiment, the present invention allows for controlling admission of interactive television iTV applications to an iTV application distribution system through the use of previously established iTV application profiles that enumerate sets of allowed functions and behaviors for such iTV applications within the iTV application distribution system. The iTV application profiles may be applied to the iTV applications on the basis of application provider, groups of providers or types of providers from which the iTV applications originated; and/or iTV application, application groups or application type irrespective of the iTV application provider from which the iTV applications originated. 
     In general, the iTV application profiles comprise filters that enable various functions within the iTV application distribution system. For example, some or all of the following functions may be so enabled: (i) automated validation of a relationship with an iTV application provider; (ii) automated validation of a correctly formed iTV application; (iii) automated validation of asset reference integrity within a specified iTV application; (iv) automated formatting of a target iTV application; (v) automated bandwidth allocation verification for one or more of the iTV applications; (vi) automated validation to ensure that the iTV applications access only permitted set-top box functions and resources such as memory and local data stores; (vii) automated validation to ensure that respective parts of iTV applications have arrived for distribution in accordance with a previously established distribution schedule; (viii) automated verification of the iTV applications&#39; make up; (ix) automated validation of restrictions on the iTV applications&#39; ability to invoke other applications; and (x) automated validation of the iTV applications&#39; use of one or more settings for iTV services provided globally by an iTV application service provider to multiple iTV application providers. 
     The iTV applications may be expressed as packages of XML documents (or as binary objects with XML metadata describing the attributes and functions of the attached application), and the iTV application profiles may be applied across sets of such documents that make up each of the packages. In some cases, separate components of each of the packages will have a corresponding separate iTV application profiles. Where the packages contain more than one document: for example, a first group of documents representing a layout of a respective iTV application and a second group documents representing data of the respective iTV application, the iTV application profiles may include separate profiles for each groups of documents. iTV application profiles applicable to layout documents of an iTV application may be delivered less frequently to the iTV application distribution system than data sets which populate that iTV application. 
     One or more of the iTV application profiles may include link points from other places in the iTV application distribution system to the iTV application(s) covered by the iTV application profiles. The link points may include channel designations, such that the iTV application(s) covered by the iTV application profiles can be accessed from a given channel identifier; and/or button click targets for other applications that link to the iTV application(s). The iTV application profiles may also specify a fetch frequency and/or target destination for the iTV application distribution system to retrieve the iTV applications. 
     In another embodiment, the present invention provides for receiving an iTV application, automatically validating the iTV application against one or more iTV application profiles according to validation rules, and, if the iTV application is validated, distributing the iTV application to iTV application clients via an iTV application deployment system, or otherwise rejecting the iTV application. The iTV application may be received in response to a scheduled fetch thereof according to a schedule specified by at least one of the iTV application profiles. Alternatively, the iTV application may be received in response to a distribution thereof by an iTV application provider, or may be fetched in response to an automated system prompt to do so. 
     In some cases, one or more of the iTV application profiles may specify a fetch frequency and a target destination from which to fetch the iTV application. Such a target destination may in fact include multiple addresses representing locations of different components of application content. Validation of the iTV application may be performed upon receipt of the iTV application, and/or when a time window for deployment of the iTV application is relevant. Such a time window may be specified within the iTV application itself and/or within the metadata associated with the iTV Application. 
     Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides an iTV deployment system that includes an application profile engine (APE) configured to automatically validate iTV applications provided by iTV application providers against iTV application profiles prior to distribution of the iTV applications to iTV application clients; and an interface for the APE adapted to permit an iTV system operator to create the application profiles, which are rules of behavior and limitations for the iTV applications. The APE may also be configured to allow the iTV system operator to establish rules for attaching the application profiles to the iTV applications. Such rules may be tested by evaluating data within the iTV applications and may include one or more of: (i) attaching specific application profiles to specific iTV applications from certain application providers; (ii) attaching specified application profiles to those iTV applications from a defined set of the application providers; (iii) attaching specified application profiles to any of iTV applications of a specified type (e.g., an attribute of an application or application component, the set of allowable values therefor being defined by a system operator or perhaps an industry standards body); (iv) attaching specified application profiles to data documents within iTV application packages from specific application providers; (v) attaching specified application profiles to template documents from certain application providers; and (vi) attaching specified application profiles to specific applications from certain application providers. Of course, more than one of the application profiles may be applicable to one or more of the iTV applications and one iTV application may be validated by multiple application profiles where more than one profile selection criteria is valid for a that specific application or application component. 
     The interface may also be configured to permit a user to view the application profiles and how the application profiles will apply to iTV applications from various application providers. Application profile storage means adapted to store the application profiles for use by the APE and/or application profile event storage means adapted to store information regarding successful or unsuccessful validation attempts by the APE may also be provided. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example of an iTV application deployment system within which the methods and systems of the present invention may be implemented. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an example of an iTV application control and management system configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The &#39;064 Application describes a system (an iTV application automation system) that provides an iTV system operator with the ability to manage iTV applications in an automated manner. One specific aspect of such iTV automation is the control and management of iTV applications as a system of applications as opposed to unique or individual applications. The present invention provides unique control methodologies for enabling such iTV automation. 
     One example of these methods applies when the iTV application definitions (which may describe application layout, function, and data) are described in a self-describing language (such as the eXtensible Markup Language or XML), as was the situation in the above-cited patent application. In another case the application itself may be a binary but have associated metadata to describe the behaviors of the application. The preferable case is that of an XML application so there is no ambiguity or obscurity as to interpreting application function; however an obscured application with associated metadata will suffice. In either case the applications, or applications&#39; metadata, can be processed prior to execution and interrogated as to their function and requirements. Specifically, the system operator hosting (or facilitating the carriage of) the iTV applications may establish an application profile for each application provider (or groups of application providers, or types of applications providers), where the application profile enumerates a set of allowed functions and behaviors to which that provider, group of providers, or types of providers must conform. Such a filter can also be applied to specific applications, application types, and/or groups of applications irrespective of application provider. When iTV applications are expressed as packages of XML documents, as discussed in the &#39;064 Application, or as XML metadata, the application profile can be applied across the set of documents that make up the package, or separate application profiles can be established that individually address different components, sets of components, or types of components within the packages. The present invention thus provides a unique control mechanism for the system operator such that the flow of applications through the system can be automated, but at the same time controlled. 
     As indicated above, an iTV automation system provides the ability to control and manage the flow of iTV applications. This control and management is facilitated, in accordance with the present invention, by establishing an application profile that can be implemented by a television service provider (cable MSO, Telco, satellite operator, etc) and that further can shape the allowed behaviors of applications that run on the system. Since the content programmer services (the iTV applications) are defined in terms of a self-describing language, such as XML, or have associated XML metadata, they can be easily validated against rules (the “application profile”) that a system operator has established for that application provider, or for a specific applications from that application provider, or rules specified for types of applications irrespective of application provider. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an overview of the iTV application automation system  10  discussed in detail in the &#39;064 Application. This system may be regarded as an end-to-end environment for developing, delivering and deploying iTV applications and is an example of an environment in which the methods and systems of the present invention may be deployed. 
     A detailed description of the operation and features of the iTV application automation system  10  is provided in the &#39;064 Application. To summarize, an application server (AS)  12  is responsible for programming, packaging and optimizing content for different iTV applications and platforms. Such content may be composed of templates, data and business rules packages. The iTV application data may be generated from dynamic data feeds that are delivered to the AS  12  from various content providers (e.g., via the Internet) or from local sources. 
     Once authored, the application packages, which may include layouts, data, ad campaigns, programming rules and directives files specific to different middleware systems, are delivered to an application proxy (AP) server  14  that may be located at the data center or in the network head end (or network operator regional distribution center). At the AP  14 , the applications are integrated with various network components so that they can be broadcast to subscribers. In particular, the updated AC application packages are delivered to a network application server  18  and then broadcast through the distribution network  20  (e.g., via in-band and/or out-of-band carousels) to the set-top box  22 . 
     At the set-top box  22 , an application client (AC)  24  is responsible for the application rendering and behavior on top of the set-top box middleware. When a user makes a selection to use a particular application, the set-top box  22  will invoke the AC  24  and tune to the proper in-band carousel (and/or fetch from an out-of-band carousel) to retrieve the necessary application files. The AC  24  may also load files directly from a local client database. Once these files are loaded into the set-top box memory, the user can begin interacting with the application. 
     Each time a “package” of application files is created at AS  12 , the package is delivered to an optimizer, which is responsible for converting the files into a highly optimized format readable by the AC  24 . The optimized package of files is then delivered to a packager, where it is prepared for delivery to the AP server  14 . Alternatively, in some embodiments an MSO-deployed application management system may be used for centralized distribution and management of application assets and metadata. In such cases, the functions of the optimizer may be moved to the AP server  26 , which collaborates with a packager proxy, the network application server  18  and other 3 rd  party components in the network head end to validate, filter and resolve the application assets into a highly optimized format readable by the AC  24 . 
     The present invention introduces the ability to control admission of iTV applications to the iTV application distribution system  10  through the use of previously established iTV application profiles that enumerate sets of allowed functions and behaviors for such iTV applications within the iTV application distribution system.  FIG. 2  shows an example of an application profile creation and management system  26 , which embodies the present invention and includes: (i) an application profile engine (APE)  28 ; (ii) an interface, APE console  30 , to the APE that allows the system operator to specify application profiles; (iii) a storage device, profile storage  32 , to store said application profiles; and (iv) one or more iTV applications  34 - 36 . System operators (or service support personnel on behalf of a system operator) use the APE console  30  to establish the application profiles, which are rules of behavior and limitations for iTV applications. The APE  28  is also used to establish the rules for attaching application profiles to incoming applications. The rules for attaching application profiles are tested by evaluating data within the application documents, or associated metadata, and include but are not limited to (i) attaching specified profiles to all applications from specified application providers; (ii) attach specified profiles to all applications from a defined set of application providers—where the APE is used to establish a set of application providers; (iii) attaching specified profiles to any application of a specified type, e.g., “overlay”; (iv) attaching specified profiles to data documents within application packages from specified application providers; (v) attaching specified profiles to template/layout documents from specified application providers; (vi) attach specified profiles to specific applications from specified application providers; etc. More than one profile can apply to a single incoming application because the profile application rules may be overlapping. The APE console  30  can be used to view all rules and how they will apply to various applications from various application providers or groups of application providers. The rules described herein then are stored in the profile storage  32 . In one embodiment of this invention the profile storage  32  is a relational database. 
     In some cases the APE console  30  is also used to input information about the general system of applications as it relates to the application, or applications, for which the profile is destined. These settings are referred to as “global settings” and are definitions in/to the profile that describe how the application will be accessed from within a larger system of applications, or general service. One example is to specify, in the application profile, the link points from other places in the iTV service to the application(s) covered by the application profile. Examples of link points include, but are not limited to, (i) setting a channel designation such that the application(s) covered by a particular application profile can be accessed from a given channel id (channel tune event); and (ii) setting button click targets for other applications that link to the application(s) covered by a particular application profile. In other embodiments of this invention, the “global settings” are controlled by a companion to the APE  28 , however, the location of the “global settings” and their handling is not critical to the invention. 
     Application providers  38 - 40  create applications for distribution within one or more system operator networks. The system operator&#39;s iTV automation system  10 , of which the application profile system  26  illustrated in  FIG. 2  is now an integral part, receives these applications as distributed by the application provider, or retrieves these applications from the application provider on a scheduled basis. In the case of a scheduled retrieval of applications, the application profile (or some secondary mechanism) specifies a fetch frequency and a target destination from which to fetch the application documents. Multiple targets may be specified where the components of an application may originate from different sources. In one embodiment of this invention it is the APE  28  that receives the applications, or fetches, or causes to be fetched, the applications. Once the application is in control of the APE  28 , the APE  28  will then validate the application, or components of the application, against rules established that match the incoming application. This may be done, for example, following optimization of an application but prior to packaging. 
     As discussed above, the applications may, in some cases, be packages that contain more than one document: that is, one or more documents representing templates/layouts of the application and one or more documents representing the data of the applications. An application profile can therefore be established for the application package and/or for any component of the package. Having separate profiles for the different components of an application package then allows the application provider to deliver the root application definition (layout documents) less frequently than the data sets that populate the application. In one embodiment the package also contains physical assets such as images or video. The system operator uses the APE console  30  to establish profiles that are then stored into the profile storage  32 . In one embodiment of this invention the applications are received by the APE  28  and upon receipt they are validated against the established profiles. In another embodiment all validation, excluding asset reference integrity (described below), will be checked at time of application receipt, but the validation of the asset references is delayed until the time window for deployment of the application is relevant. Note that applications may be specified for deployment in some specific time window and may be received by the APE  28  prior to that time window. The time window of availability for an application may be specified in one of the application documents. 
     If the APE  28  finds an application to be in violation of its profile (or profiles if more than one profile applies to a given application) then the application is rejected. In one embodiment of this invention the APE  28  will then send a return message to the application provider listing the application violations and will record the error into an application events storage  42  such that the system operator has visibility into the failed attempt. Such storage may be part of a services manager module in AS  12 . 
     If the APE  28  finds the application to pass all application profile tests then in one embodiment of this invention, the APE  28  will then send a message to the application provider to signify the successful acceptance of their application and will then record the acceptance of the applications to the application events storage  42  such that the system operator has visibility into the instances of the accepted applications. Further, in this embodiment, the APE  28  will pass the application in to the iTV application deployment system  10  (e.g., to the AP  14 ) for deployment if the application&#39;s time window is relevant or will pass the application on to an application holding storage if the application&#39;s deployment time window is not currently relevant. In the case where the application is held pending a time window, the application will undergo additional profile validations at the point where the time window becomes relevant or shortly therebefore. In yet further embodiments validation timings will be adjusted to meet the needs of specific validation requirements. 
     Once the incoming application has been validated the APE  28  may use the application profile&#39;s “global settings” to determine which link points may need to be updated. If the validation failed then the link points may need to be removed, stubbed out, or set to alternates—these rules all governed by the data in the global settings. If the validation passes then the link points need to be set to the current version of this application. 
     In one embodiment, the APE  28  is implemented entirely as a portion of server component  12 . In another embodiment of this invention, parts of the APE  28  are implemented in the set-top box client  24 . 
     Validation Examples 
     The following are illustrations of validations that the system operator may elect to have automatically performed by the APE  28  and are in no way limiting of the types of application attributes and behaviors that can be validated using this invention. 
     (a) Validate Relationship with Application Provider. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it originates from a provider that has established a relationship with the system operator that allows for application flow. The validation may be performed by evaluating a tag within the application document that names the application provider. 
     (b) Correctly Formed Application. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it conforms to syntax requirements established for the applications. In the iTV application system described in the &#39;064 Application the applications are written in XML. In this instance the XML is validated to see that it is properly formed XML and secondly validated to see that it meets the XML DTD required by that system. 
     (c) Integrity of Asset References within the Application. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it only contains content reference links that are valid within the specific system within which it will be deployed. Examples of content reference links include VOD links, images, links, channel id, and secondary application links. This list is only meant to be representative of the types of content links. Any link may be validated to see that the resource is (or will be) valid at the time the applications is permitted to pass through the system. 
     (d) Format of Application. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it is in an approved implementation form. In one embodiment of the present invention approved forms include (i) full-screen with no inset TV; (ii) full-screen with video inset; (iii) ¼ screen bottom overlay; (iv) ¼ screen top overlay. Other embodiments of this invention may include other application formats. In order to validate the application format the application profile examiner will parse the application document, or application metadata to determine the layout of the application. 
     (e) Bandwidth. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it consumes no more that an allocated amount of bandwidth. This validation is of particular interest in a system where the application will be broadcast via a carousel. There is a limited amount of space available in a carousel. 
     (f) Access to Set Top Box Functions. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it only accesses functions approved by the profile (or does not access function denied by the profile). The APE can test for the use of these functions by parsing the application document, or application metadata, and looking for instances of function usage. Examples of such functions include, but are not limited to, (i) setting a ‘reminder’, (ii) triggering a PVR record for a specific program, (iii) changing the channel, or (iv) reading or changing a set top box setting. 
     (g) Frequency of Update. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it has arrived after a specific interval since that last successful delivery of an application from that same provider. That is, the system operator can specific that any given provider cannot update their application more frequently that some given interval. 
     (h) Numbers of i-Frames, p-Frames, Templates, and/or Application Pages. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it does not exceed the limits for the number of allowed i-frames, p-frames, templates, or distinct application pages. For example, using the present invention a system operator may specify that a given application is only allowed to have one i-frame background and is not allowed to have any p-frame images, and further that the application is allowed to have only two unique layout templates, and only five distinct pages. In this case the system operator has specified a single application profile that spans several elements of an application package. 
     (i) Ability to Invoke Other Applications. 
     Prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it only invokes programs that it has been approved to access by the application profile established by the system operator using the interface  30  to the APE  28 . In one embodiment of this invention the system operator will restrict the ability for applications to call other applications. This restriction will allow the application to call only other applications from the same provider, and/or only allow the application to call specific services enumerated by the system operator such as Help, Menu, Guide, or other services for which the system operator wishes to allow general access from applications. 
     (j) Application Home within the ITV Service. 
     In addition to “global settings” residing as part of the application profile (or some external source acting upon the application in conjunction with the application profile), the application definition itself may also contain definitions for these global settings. In this case the settings provided by the application will be validated against any rules established by the system operator governing the application provider&#39;s use of those settings. That is, prior to allowing the application provider&#39;s application to flow through the operator&#39;s system  10 , the application may be validated to see that it specifies (i) the approved category or categories, and/or locations wherein a description and link to the application may be placed; (ii) the approved channel map specification, in the case of a channel application, for including this application in the ITV service. This specification provides information to the APE  28  to indicate where the application “snaps in” to the system operator&#39;s overall iTV service. In one embodiment of this invention the system operator will restrict the ability for applications to ‘snap in’ to the iTV service in an unauthorized manner. In another embodiment of this invention, the APE  28  will automatically adjust the iTV service to “snap in” the application according to the specified application profile instructions. In still another embodiment of this invention the “global settings” for the “snap-in” are set by the system operator and not accessible from within the application provider&#39;s application except as it relates to application provider applications that are invoked from within other applications provided by that same application provider. 
     Thus, systems and method to control admission of iTV application to an iTV application distribution system through the use of iTV application profiles have been described. It should be noted that throughout the foregoing discussion, the iTV applications described may be implemented as XML or may be binaries with XML metadata and, hence, all references to parsing or reading the XML should read as parsing the application itself where it is in some readable self-described form such as XML or the XML metadata where the application is not so readable. Thus, though discussed with reference to certain illustrated embodiments and other examples, the present invention is not meant to be limited thereby and should only be measured in terms of the claims, which follow.