Patent ID: 7310496

Claim:
A method for accessing one or more additional services temporarily included within a main service provided by a service provider over a common service channel by means of a uni-directional transmission between said service provider and a receiving device configured to be connected to said service provider, whereby said uni-directional transmission is performed by a broadcast signal directed from said service provider to said receiving device without a transmission of signals in the opposite direction and whereby said common service channel comprises said main service, said one or more additional services, and service information indicating how to access said at least one additional service in said common service channel, said method comprising the steps of: extracting, from said common service channel presently received by said receiving device, service information about at least one of said additional services comprised in said common service channel; accessing said at least one of said additional services about which service information was extracted from said common service channel; storing said extracted service information in said receiving device; updating said stored service information each time the extracting step is executed; activating said receiving device, or necessary parts thereof, configured to receive the common service channel during time intervals in which one or more additional services are sent from the service provider to said receiving device; and returning said receiving device or said parts thereof to a pre-activation state after said activating step, wherein said processes of activating and returning are carried out on the basis of said stored service information or said latest service information extracted from said common service channel.