Patent ID: 7640570

Claim:
In a network system where data is broadcast to a plurality of client systems that are each configured to display and render the data, a method for remotely scheduling a task for implementation on one of the client systems, the method comprising: receiving, at a website, a login request from a user, the login request including a user identifier, the website storing program guide data; receiving an activation code from the user at the website, the activation code including a first client system identifier, a signature of the first client system identifier and a random value; verifying the signature to verify that the user had access to the first client system; providing the program guide data to the user over a network, wherein the user requests a task from the program guide data that is provided to the user, the task to be performed on a first client system; receiving the task that was requested by the user from the program guide data; generating a notification from the requested task, wherein the notification includes the random value, task attributes, and an identifier for the first client system, as well as a sequence number that enables the first client system to determine whether the first client system has already processed the task; sending the notification to a notification service, wherein the notification service stores the notification in a task database; sending, by the notification service, the notification to a broadcast service, wherein the broadcast service broadcasts the notification to the plurality of client systems such that upon the first client system receiving the notification, the first client system determines that the notification is intended for the first client system by detecting that the notification includes the first client system identifier and verifies the random value included in the notification.