Patent ID: 8489762

Claim:
A method for generating control information for use in transmission with a multimedia stream to an audiovisual device, the method comprising: generating first control information, wherein the first control information is for configuring the audiovisual device to present a multimedia stream, wherein the first control information is generated according to a first protocol version; generating a first data structure, wherein the first data structure comprises information about the first control information, wherein the first data structure specifies that the first control information is of the first protocol version; generating and transmitting a first plurality of packets, the first plurality of packets comprising at least one multimedia stream specified by the first control information, the first control information, and the first data structure; generating second control information, wherein the second control information is for configuring the audiovisual device to present a multimedia stream, wherein the second control information is generated according to a second protocol version; modifying the first data structure to include additional information about the second control information, wherein the modified first data structure specifies that the second control information is of the second protocol version, wherein the modified first data structure retains the information about the first control information; generating and transmitting a second plurality of packets, wherein the second plurality of packets comprise the modified first data structure, the first control information, a multimedia stream specified by the first control information, the second control information, and a multimedia stream specified by the second control information; wherein the first data structure is separate from the first control information.