Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Jesus David Rivas

Jonathan D Courtney

Tao Ye

Bartley H Calder

Keith L Messer

Amith Yamasani

James Van Loo

Daniel C W Wong

Methods and apparatus for managing execution of an application according to an application lifecycle. The application lifecycle is managed by an application manager through a set of commands that enable the application manager to cause the application to enter one of a plurality of states. In addition, the application can communicate with the application manager to indicate that the application cannot change its state as the application manager has requested or to request that the application manager change the state of the application to a particular state.

Methods and apparatus for managing an application

Improved methods and apparatus suitable for accessing synchronized data in a broadcast system are disclosed. A synchronized data accessing system providing an interface that can be used by a data requester to access synchronized data is disclosed. The data requester can initiate a request to access synchronized data using the interface, and data can be made available and accessed by the data requester through the interface.

Methods and apparatus for accessing synchronized broadcast data

Through the association of an IP address with each data stream, a single system may be used by a network card or a tuner to select multicast IP data. Each data stream is identified by a unique IP address. More particularly, a locator adapted for identifying a data stream is associated with one of a plurality of data streams. The locator is then mapped to an IP address. When it is determined that the IP address corresponds to a data stream locator associated with a data stream, a tuner is instructed to read the data stream associated with the data stream locator. However, when it is determined that the IP address does not correspond to a data stream locator, a network card identified by the IP address is instructed to read data from the associated network. Since each data stream may be associated with a plurality of multicast IP addresses, a multicast group address is specified to identify the appropriate multicast IP data transmitted in the data stream. Packets addressed to the multicast group address may then be received by either a tuner or a network interface card.

Methods and apparatus for selecting multicast IP data transmitted in broadcast streams

The invention relates to methods and apparatus for accessing data that is periodically transmitted by a broadcaster. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a receiver capable of reception of data is disclosed. The data is transmitted by a broadcaster in a broadcasting system. The receiver reduces the delay conventionally encountered in accessing periodically transmitted data in a broadcasting system.

Methods and apparatus for efficiently accessing periodically broadcast data

Methods and apparatus for implementing an application lifecycle design for applications

Methods and apparatus for creating and manipulating a video window on a display associated with a television are disclosed. A set of parameters identifying a source region and a destination location in a source coordinate system are obtained where the source coordinate system includes a source origin at a location of the source coordinate system. A destination origin is set at a location of a destination coordinate system. The source region is then translated to a location within the destination coordinate system equivalent to the destination location in the source coordinate system.

Methods and apparatus for providing video control for television applications

Methods and apparatus for loading and unloading classes associated with an application are disclosed. A class loader adapted for loading classes associated with an application is constructed. The class loader is employed to load one or more classes associated with the application such that the class loader maintains a reference to the one or more classes. The class loader for the application is then de-referenced such that the class loader is unreachable.

Methods and apparatus for implementing individual class loaders

A method and apparatus for providing plug-in media decoders. Embodiments provide a &ldquo;plug-in&rdquo; decoder architecture that allows software decoders to be transparently downloaded, along with media data. User applications are able to support new media types as long as the corresponding plug-in decoder is available with the media data. Persistent storage requirements are decreased because the downloaded decoder is transient, existing in application memory for the duration of execution of the user application. The architecture also supports use of plug-in decoders already installed in the user computer. One embodiment is implemented with object-based class files executed in a virtual machine to form a media application. A media data type is determined from incoming media data, and used to generate a class name for a corresponding codec (coder-decoder) object. A class path vector is searched, including the source location of the incoming media data, to determine the location of the codec class file for the given class name. When the desired codec class file is located, the virtual machine's class loader loads the class file for integration into the media application. If the codec class file is located across the network at the source location of the media data; the class loader downloads the codec class file from the network. Once the class file is loaded into the virtual machine, an instance of the codec class is created within the media application to decode/decompress the media data as appropriate for the media data type.

Method and apparatus for providing plug-in media decoders

A method and apparatus for providing plug-in media decoders. Embodiments provide a &ldquo;plug-in&rdquo; decoder architecture that allows software decoders to be transparently downloaded, along with media data. User applications are able to support new media types as long as the corresponding plug-in decoder is available with the media data. Persistent storage requirements are decreased because the downloaded decoder is transient, existing in application memory for the duration of execution of the user application. The architecture also supports use of plug-in decoders already installed in the user computer. One embodiment is implemented with object-based class files executed in a virtual machine to form a media application. A media data type is determined from incoming media data, and used to generate a class name for a corresponding codec (coder-decoder) object. A class path vector is searched, including the source location of the incoming media data, to determine the location of the codec class file for the given class name. When the desired codec class file is located, the virtual machine's class loader loads the class file for integration into the media application. If the codec class file is located across the network at the source location of the media data, the class loader downloads the codec class file from the network. Once the class file is loaded into the virtual machine, an instance of the codec class is created within the media application to decode/decompress the media data as appropriate for the media data type.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Jesus David Rivas