Worldgate Communications, Inc.

Jae Hea Lee

Joseph Ellis Augenbraun

Harold M Krisbergh

David E Wachob

Aaron Grosky

Bruce D Bauman

Gerard Kunkel

Richard L Booth

Harold E Herzig

An access system and method provides interactive access to an information source, such as the Internet, through a networked distribution system, such as a television distribution system. Each user in the television distribution system can access the Internet through an associated terminal by sending commands through an upstream channel to a headend server which is interfaced between a television network headend and an Internet Service Provider(ISP). The headend server manages all Internet information requests from the terminals by forwarding the requests to the ISP and receiving the requested information therefrom. An Internet Protocol (IP) address is assigned only to the headend server which keeps track of the terminals requesting information by means of terminal identification numbers or codes associated with each request. The headend server also maintains a plurality of Internet browser applications active at all times to insure that a terminal requesting Internet access can be immediately interfaced to the ISP through one of the active browser applications. Each of the downstream television signals includes a vertical synchronization signal that is preferably employed to generate a framing signal for synchronizing upstream transmission of the data packets comprising the information requests from the terminals.

Access system and method for providing interactive access to an

An access system and method for providing interactive access to an information source through a television distribution system is disclosed. The distribution system includes a television distribution network, headend distribution equipment at the headend of the distribution network, and a plurality of terminals at terminal ends of the distribution network. An input device and an upstream transmitter are associated with one of the terminals to input a command for the information source and to transmit the inputted command on an upstream channel of the distribution network, respectively. A headend server, upstream receiver, and blank interval inserter are associated with the headend distribution equipment. The headend server is interfaced to the information source. The upstream receiver is interfaced to the headend server to receive and forward the command to the headend server. The headend server transmits the forwarded command to the information source, and the information source transmits responsive information to the headend server. The blank interval inserter receives the information from the headend server and inserts sequential portions into blank intervals of sequential picture fields of a television transmission on a downstream channel of the distribution network. The blank interval extractor is interfaced to the terminal to extract the inserted sequential portions. The extracted information is then displayed on a display device associated with the terminal.

A system and method for accessing Internet-based and other information through a user television in a television distribution network enables a user to access and view information which is related to the programming content of a currently viewed television broadcast. This concept, known as channel hyperlinking, enables a television viewer to download Internet Web pages, and the like, which are related to a currently viewed advertisement, program, newscast, etc. To facilitate channel hyperlinking, each user of the system sends channel hyperlink requests through an upstream channel to a network headend by actuating a hyperlink button on a television remote control, for example. The network headend is interfaced to the Internet by means of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and downloads HTML Web page data from the Internet to the requesting user. Each television broadcast to be linked to the Internet-based or other information is transmitted by the original broadcaster with an identification tag which identifies the Universal Resource Locator (URL) or address where the program content related information is located. The headend uses the ID tag with channel and time of request information to identify the location of the information to be downloaded to the user. Preferably, the information is pre-cached from the ISP to a headend cache in advance of the broadcast to facilitate quicker downloading of the information to the user.

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Bensalem, PA, United States of America

Jae Hea Lee