Patent ID: 7606255

Claim:
A method comprising: selectively acquiring at a single client device, based on a region identifier, a region configuration file from multiple region configuration files that are broadcast, wherein the region configuration file includes: multiple configuration definitions presented for selection by a viewer through a display interface; and a name based on the region identifier; wherein each of the multiple configuration definitions: define out-of-band data including electronic program guide data, the out-of-band data being decoded and rendered in parallel with video and audio data; define a data grouping according to one of multiple different languages; define a layout format for presenting the out-of-band data to the viewer via the display interface, the layout format being associated with a viewer interest and different from other layout formats in the region configuration file; and include: a client type table storing data that identifies different types of client devices capable of supporting one or more configuration definitions; a data types table storing a list of data types associated with a configuration definition; and a tags table recording details associated with each configuration definition, wherein the tags table includes: at least one metadata tag specifying a configuration identifier and a configuration name that can be presented to the viewer for selection; at least one required data tag specifying a data type for which a client device must acquire data; and one or more optional tags identifying data downloaded after data specified by the at least one required data tag is downloaded; receiving at the client device a viewer selection of one of the multiple configuration definitions, wherein the viewer selects one of the multiple configuration definitions from a list of multiple configuration definitions presented via the display interface; selectively acquiring, by the single client device, portions of broadcast data based on the selected one of the multiple configuration definitions; and displaying via the display interface at the single client device, according to the language and the layout format associated with the selected configuration definition, at least a portion of the broadcast data selectively acquired.