Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 1 of 37
`Case 3:l6—cv—O2433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 1 of 37
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`EXHIBIT L
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`EXHIBIT L
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`

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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 2 of 37
`°°°“’“e“‘|lllllmllllffllillllmmllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIIII|lI|||||||||||||||
`
`US0076692l2B2
`
`(12) United States Patent
`Alao et al.
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 7,669,212 B2
`Feb. 23, 2010
`
`(54) SERVICE PLATFORM SUITE MANAGEMENT
`SYSTEM
`
`(75)
`
`Inventors: Rachad Alao, Surmyvale, CA (US); Jose
`Henrard, Paris (FR); Alain Delpuch,
`Paris la Defense cedex (FR); Vincent
`Dureau, Palo Alto, CA (US); Vahid
`Koussari-Amin, Los Altos, CA (US);
`Adam Benson, San Mateo, CA (US);
`Nicholas Fishwick, Mountain View, CA
`(US); Waiman Lam, Union City, CA
`(US); Matthew Huntington,
`Twickenharn (GB)
`
`(73) Assignee: OpenTV, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
`
`( * ) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. l54(b) by 1644 days.
`
`(21) Appl.No.: 10/061,136
`
`(22)
`
`(65)
`
`Filed:
`
`Feb. 1, 2002
`
`Prior Publication Data
`
`US 2002/0147645 Al
`
`Oct. 10, 2002
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/265,986, filed on Feb.
`2, 2001, provisional application No. 60/266,210, filed
`on Feb. 2, 2001, provisional application No. 60/267,
`876, filed on Feb. 9, 2001, provisional application No.
`60/269,261, filed on Feb. 15, 2001, provisional appli-
`cation No. 60/279,543, filed on Mar. 28, 2001.
`
`(51)
`
`Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`H04N 7/025
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`............................. .. 725/32; 725/9; 725/34;
`725/35; 725/36
`(58) Field of Classification Search ........... .. 725/34—36,
`725/9, 14
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5,870,562 A
`
`2/1999 Butman et al.
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`AU
`
`749581
`
`3/2000
`
`(Continued)
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Notice of the Reason for Refusal in Japanese Patent Application No.
`2002-563106; Mailed Sep. 18, 2007.
`
`(Continued)
`
`Primary Examiner—Christopher Kelley
`Assistant Examiner—Timothy R Newlin
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Rory D. Rankin; Meyertons
`Hood Kivlin Kowert & Goetzel, P.C.
`
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`The present invention provides a method and apparatus for
`managing the presentation and regulation of E-Commerce,
`content and service providers access in an interactive televi-
`sion environment comprising interactions between a server, a
`client, and a service provider. Components are provided for
`managing and completing a purchase or delivery of an item
`offered by a service provider. A purchase transaction uses
`client information comprising partial client information from
`the client and a list ofpurchased items. Upon receiving partial
`information from the client, the server retrieves correspond-
`ing additional related information within its database and
`transmits this retrieved data from the server, along with the
`list of purchased items to complete the transaction. Business
`Agents are provided for logging the transaction, creating an
`electronic receipt, logging patches, logging error events, and
`viewer logging. The invention further comprises a method for
`measuring audience behavior and response to particular
`events or programs and advertisements; and a method for
`adaptive delivery of advertisements to a client. Advertise-
`ments are scheduled according to an agreement and mani-
`fested into campaign rules and desired run times. A profile of
`a viewer that resides on the client device is used as the criteria
`for selection of a particular advertisement from a broadcast
`and for polling ofaudience viewing habits. The present inven-
`tion further monitors the integrity and connectivity of the
`interactive television network and service providers.
`
`(Continued)
`
`64 Claims, 14 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`
`238
`SERVICE
`MANAGER
`
`242
`240
`TRANSADTTON
`VIEWER
`MANAGER
`MANAGER
`BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
`
`244
`ADVERTISING
`MANAGER
`
`
`
`
`
`21
`
`T.BROADCAST TI
`I
`PLATFORM
`BALANCER
`BUSINESS
`AGENTS
`I
`POINT-TO-POINT i
`
`CONTENT
`FILTERS
`
`CONTENT
`CONVERSION
`
`214
`
`

`
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`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 3 of 37
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`US 7,669,212 B2
`Page 2
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`W0
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`782015
`0 722 249
`1067792
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`GB, vol. 413, pp. 382-394.
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`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 4 of 37
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 9 of 37
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 10 of 37
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 12 of 37
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 14 of 37
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 17 of 37
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 17 of 37
`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Feb. 23, 2010
`
`Sheet 14 of 14
`
`US 7,669,212 B2
`
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 18 of 37
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 18 of 37
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`US 7,669,212 B2
`
`1
`SERVICE PLATFORM SUITE MANAGEMENT
`SYSTEM
`
`CROSS REFERENCED TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application claims priority from the USPTO provi-
`sional patent application entitled “A System for Adaptive
`Control of Access, Content and Scheduling For Interactive
`Television” filed on Feb. 2, 2001, Ser. No. 60/265,986 which
`is hereby incorporated herein by reference; USPTO provi-
`sional patent application entitled “A System for Adaptive
`Control of Access, Content and Scheduling For Interactive
`Television” filed on Feb. 2, 2001, Ser. No. 60/266,210 which
`is hereby incorporated herein by reference; USPTO provi-
`sional patent application entitled “A System for Adaptive
`Control of Access, Content and Scheduling For Interactive
`Television” filed on Feb. 9, 2001, Ser. No. 60/267,876 which
`is hereby incorporated herein by reference; and USPTO pro-
`visional patent application entitled “A System for Adaptive
`Control of Access, Content and Scheduling For Interactive
`Television”filed on Feb. 15,2001, Ser. No. 60/269,261 which
`is hereby incorporated herein by reference; USPTO provi-
`sional patent application entitled “A System for Adaptive
`Control of Access, Content and Scheduling For Interactive
`Television” filed on Mar. 28, 2001, Ser. No. 60/279,543
`which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
`
`COPYRIGHT NOTICE
`
`A portion of the disclosure of this patent document con-
`tains material (code listings and message listings) to which
`the claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright
`owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any
`person of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it
`appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office file or
`records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever. Copyright
`2001 OpenTV, Inc.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to managing a suite of ser-
`vices in a distributed computer system, and in particular man-
`aging an interactive television system suite of services pro-
`vided to a group of client subscribers.
`2. Summary of the Invention
`Interactive television systems can be used to provide a wide
`variety of services to viewers. Interactive television systems
`are capable of delivering typical video program streams,
`interactive television applications, text and graphic images,
`web pages and other types of information. Interactive televi-
`sion systems are also capable of registering viewer actions or
`responses and can be used for such purposes as marketing,
`entertainment and education. Users or viewers may interact
`with the systems by ordering advertised products or services,
`competing against contestants in a game show, requesting
`specialized information regarding particular programs, or
`navigating through pages of information.
`Typically, a broadcast service provider or network operator
`generates an interactive television signal for transmission to a
`viewer’s television. The interactive television signal may
`include an interactive portion consisting of application code
`or control information, as well as an audio/video portion
`consisting of a television program or other informational
`displays. The broadcast service provider combines the audio/
`video and interactive portions into a single signal for trans-
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`mission to a receiver connected to the user’s television. The
`
`signal is generally compressed prior to transmission and
`transmitted through typical broadcast channels, such as cable
`television (CATV) lines or direct satellite transmission sys-
`tems.
`
`Typically, the interactive functionality of the television is
`controlled by a set-top box connected to the television. The
`set-top box receives a broadcast signal transmitted by the
`broadcast service provider, separates the interactive portion
`from the audio-video portion and decompresses the respec-
`tive portions ofthe signal. The set-top box uses the interactive
`information, for example, to execute an application while the
`audio/video information is transmitted to the television. The
`
`set-top box may combine the audio/video information with
`interactive graphics or audio generated by the interactive
`application prior to transmitting the information to the tele-
`vision. The interactive graphics and audio may present addi-
`tional information to the viewer or may prompt the viewer for
`input. The set-top box may provide viewer input or other
`information to the broadcast service provider via a modem
`connection or cable.
`
`In accordance with their aggregate nature, interactive tele-
`vision systems provide content from numerous service pro-
`viders in various different communication protocols that must
`be understood by the client or viewer who receives the infor-
`mation from the broadcast service provider/network operator.
`Typically the client is a set top box with a processor possess-
`ing limited processing power. There is a need for an architec-
`ture that provides a comprehensive management solution for
`regulation of content, advertising and E-Commerce in an
`interactive television environment. There is also a need for a
`
`comprehensive architecture that provides adaptive control of
`access, content and scheduling in an interactive television
`environment. There is also a need for monitoring service
`provider and the platform connection of and content integrity
`provided to the interactive television system.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention provides Service Platform Suite, a
`method and apparatus for managing the presentation and
`regulation of E-Commerce, content and service providers
`access in a distributed computer system. In particular, the
`present invention operates in an interactive television envi-
`ronment comprising interactions between a server, a client,
`and a service provider, where the client is a viewer, consumer
`or purchaser, the service provider is the vendor, and the server
`facilitates the interaction between the client and the service
`
`provider. The present invention comprises a Service Platform
`Suite comprising components for managing and completing a
`purchase or delivery of an item offered by a service provider.
`A service provider can be either external or internal to the
`server. The invention supports three different scenarios for
`E-Commerce transactions. In a first scenario, referred to as
`the pass-through scenario,
`information is passed directly
`between a client and an external service provider. In a second
`scenario, referred to as the partial-host scenario, the server
`hosts a service catalog but passes the orders to the shops or
`services for payment and fulfillment of orders. In a third
`scenario, referred to as the full-host scenario, the server hosts
`the catalog and also processes the orders.
`Preferably, the required information for a client to com-
`plete a transaction or make a purchase is stored in a server
`database. A partial record of this client information is stored
`on the client device to facilitate a transaction or purchase
`without compromising security. The client device can operate
`as a single viewer or multiple viewer device, wherein separate
`
`

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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 19 of 37
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`US 7,669,212 B2
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`3
`information is stored pertaining to each viewer. A purchase
`transaction begins when the client activates a transaction by,
`for example, pushing a button on a remote control device. At
`this moment, the required information may either be sent
`immediately or stored on the client device to be sent at a later
`time, if it is determined that network trafiic is currently at a
`prohibitively high volume or the client is offline. The client
`transaction uses client information comprising partial client
`information from the client and a list of purchased items.
`Upon receiving partial information from the client, the server
`retrieves corresponding additional related information within
`its database and transmits this retrieved data from the server,
`along with the list of purchased items to complete the trans-
`action. An advantage of the invention is the transparency of
`the cashier, function at the server during the transaction. The
`client interacts with the server minimally only to log on, if
`necessary, and to review an order and choose a form of pay-
`ment. Thus, the interaction between the server database pro-
`viding client information and the service provider is transpar-
`ent to the user.
`
`The central managing component for the transaction on the
`server is the Interactive Service Manager (ISM). The ISM
`comprises Business Agents which handle different aspects of
`the purchase transaction. Business Agents provide for log-
`ging the transaction, creating an electronic receipt, logging
`patches, logging error events, and viewer logging.
`The invention further comprises a method for enabling
`interested parties to measure audience behavior and response
`to particular events or programs and advertisements. A quan-
`titative profile is created of the client based upon the client’s
`viewing activities and clicking activities in response to pre-
`viously displayed advertisement banners or programs. This
`profile is stored on the client device. This information can be
`mined or pulled from the client device by the head end server
`for use in a statistical poll of viewer behavior. Statistical polls
`do not compromise the personal information relating to a data
`sample ofviewerparticipants. Pulled information is compiled
`and stored on the head end server for access by ratings agen-
`cies having business agreements with the server. Further com-
`pilation of pulled information is also further compiled for
`internal reports.
`The invention further comprises a method for adaptive
`delivery of advertisements to a client. The server provides an
`interface with a service provider to schedule an advertisement
`with the server. Advertisements are scheduled according to an
`agreement and manifested into campaign rules and desired
`run times. Advertisements are placed in a broadcast stream
`upon being filtered by criteria such as the campaign rules and
`agreed upon business rules. An advertising service provider
`can upload and remove advertisements on the server. When
`scheduled, a group of advertisements are transmitted to a
`broadcast stream, whereupon an advertisement is selected
`from this group for display to the viewer. A profile of a viewer
`that resides on the client device is used as the criteria for
`
`selection of a particular advertisement and for polling of
`audience viewing habits.
`The Service Platform Manager of this invention further
`monitors the integrity and connection of the interactive tele-
`vision network. The platform monitor is a distributed soft-
`ware method with no central database required. The operator
`of the Service Platform Manager checks for connectivity at
`the machine level through ports, checks for operation on the
`process level of the activity of the server, and checks for file
`integrity on the data level to ensure, for example, the currency
`of a file. The operator of the Service Platform Manager can
`select or remove services provided from service providers
`from a list of items to be monitored. The Service Platform
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`Manager also creates statistical reports, and has an alarm
`system that can be set to automatically run a test at a given
`time or on a given schedule, as desired by the operator. In one
`embodiment of the invention, the Service Platform Manager
`is presented on a personal computer. In another embodiment,
`the Service Platform Manager operates over other digital
`interfaces, as in, for example, a cell phone, or a PDA. In
`another embodiment, the invention is provided on a computer
`readable medium, including any kind of computer memory
`known or unknown, comprising floppy disks, conventional
`hard disks, CD-ROMS, Flash ROMs, non-volatile ROM and
`RAM, on which instructions are stored that when executed
`cause a computer to implement the present invention.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`Other objects and advantages of the invention will become
`apparent upon reading the following detailed description and
`upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
`FIG. 1A illustrates a high level Architecture Diagram for a
`preferred embodiment of the Service Platform of the present
`invention;
`FIG. 1B illustrates an alternative embodiment of a high
`level Architecture Diagram for a preferred embodiment ofthe
`Service Platform of the present invention;
`FIG. 2 is a more detailed description of the high level
`Architecture;
`FIG. 3 is a more detailed description Architecture Diagram
`of FIG. 2;
`FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a preferred embodiment of
`the Service Platform of the present invention;
`FIG. 5 is an example of an alternative embodiment of the
`Service Platform of the present invention;
`FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of the Advertise architecture;
`FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram ofthe architecture for Measure;
`FIG. 8 illustrates a diagram of the architecture for Target;
`FIG. 9 illustrates a diagram ofthe architecture forAccount;
`FIG. 10 shows a diagram of the architecture for Service
`Platform Manager;
`FIG. 11 shows a software implementation of the Service
`Platform Manager;
`FIG. 12 shows the Network Monitor page of the Service
`Platform Manager; and
`FIG. 13 shows a shelf life for data monitoring.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`The following description describes several examples of
`preferred embodiments of the present invention.
`Introduction
`
`Account comprises five major components as follows: a
`Proxy component; an Application Server component; a Data
`Repository component; a Registration component; and an
`Administration component. The Proxy component is located
`in a communication link between the client device and the
`
`service provider’s commerce server. The proxy component
`functions as a proxy server. Proxy intercepts messages trans-
`mitted between a client device and a service provider server.
`Proxy passes the message to the Application Server for pro-
`cessing (ifnecessary) and forwards the message to its original
`destination. Proxy is a bi-directional server, in that it can
`intercept both the requests or messages from the client and the
`responses from the server provider’s server.
`Messages are filtered by Proxy component so the Network
`Operator (NO) can control entitlement, that is, which client
`can send messages, which service provider can receive mes-
`
`

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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-12 Filed 05/04/16 Page 20 of 37
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`US 7,669,212 B2
`
`5
`sages and what kind of messages can be sent. Thus, the NO
`can provide a portal or a walled garden to control all the
`interactive services available to NO subscribers or clients.
`
`The proxy component processes any message format, pref-
`erably, the message is ASCII based and the protocol is http.
`Account is built on top of the proxy component, which is
`transparent from both the client and the server provider stand-
`point, this makes the present invention unique in a sense that
`the insertion ofthe viewer data into the message is carried out
`transparently without affecting the original transaction steps.
`The application server component comprises: an Interac-
`tive Service Manager; a Business Agents; and a Data Access
`Component. The Interactive Service Manager (ISM) is the
`key component of the Application server. The ISM looks at
`message headers to and from the client and server. When a
`message is being sent from the client to the service provider,
`the message headers (including the cookie headers) contain
`information to identify which application is sending the mes-
`sage (application identifier); which device is sending the mes-
`sage (device identifier); which viewer inside the household is
`sending the message (viewer nick name); the authentication
`PIN for the viewer; whether the message needs Account
`processing (processing flag); and what kind of processing is
`needed: synchronous processing or asynchronous processing
`(async flag). Based on the information provided in the mes-
`sage headers, the ISM performs the several tasks. Based on
`the information from the data repository, the ISM ensures that
`the application has permission to send messages (application
`identifier corresponding to an active application in the data
`repository—application; and entitlement);
`the device is
`allowed to send messages (device identifier corresponding to
`an non delinquent device in the data repository—device
`entitlement). If processing is not needed, the ISM returns the
`message back to the proxy component that forwards the mes-
`sage to its original destination. Otherwise, ISM continues
`processing the message. Distributed processing can also be
`employed here: the client device can scan the message first
`before sending it, and determines if the message does not
`contain any Account keywords, if not, the client or ISM sets
`the processing flag to 0. Also during the application develop-
`ment time, the application developer may know whether a
`message will contain any Account keywords, if not, then the
`processing bit can be set to 0. The parameters (including
`processing and async bits) can vary from message to mes-
`sage, so within one transaction session, the parameters can
`change from message to message.
`There are two methods for asynchronous processing: First,
`Store and Forward asynchronous processing is used by the
`client device to reduce the peak load of the communication
`link between the client and the server. When the communi-
`
`cation link is busy or when the client application is pro-
`grammed to support store and forward, the client device
`stores the transaction request into either a transient memory
`(RAM) or persistent memory (flash, hard drive), and will
`forward the request to Account at a later time. This time delay
`can be a random parameter; a calculated parameter (based on
`the current time and point-to-point network parameters); or a
`combination of both.
`
`Second, if the message is denoted as asynchronous (either
`by a flag in a message header or an application configuration
`parameter in the data repository), ISM places the message
`into a queue and returns a response to the proxy which will
`then send the response back to the client. The response noti-
`fies the client that the message has already been placed into a
`queue and the transaction outcome will be sent later (e.g.
`email, SMS, etc). Asynchronous message reduces the peak
`load to the service provider’ s servers as the message is cached
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`in Account before forwarding to the service provider. In addi-
`tion, the cache is centralized in the Account thus it becomes
`unnecessary for each service provider to provide its own
`cache.
`
`ISM scans the message and searches for Account special
`keywords. Each keyword corresponds to a special operation
`to be performed by Account. Each keyword has two parts:
`keyword itself and the parameters provided by the client.
`Some of the keywords are viewer’s contact information (e.g.
`shipping and billing info); viewer’ s e-wallet information (e.g.
`credit card info); viewer’s address book information (friend
`and family information including instant message buddy list);
`and transaction (e-receipt) information. The targets of the
`keyword operations are a data repository and the message
`itself. Each keyword corresponds to retrieving a piece of a
`record from the data repository, writing (or creating) a record
`into the data repository, or deleting a record from the reposi-
`tory. Additional actions corresponding to keywords may also
`be defined.
`
`After ISM processes a keyword, ISM replaces the keyword
`with the record from the data repository; removes the key-
`word; and/or swaps the keyword with its parameter. In order
`to enable the NO to hide the viewer identity from the service
`provider and make sure that no viewer information is released
`without the permission of Account, Account employs the
`concept of a session identifier. The message between the
`proxy and the client contains information in the message
`headers to identify the device (device identifier) and the
`viewer (viewer nickname). The device identifier and viewer
`nickname are persistent data items that do not change unless
`changed by the client device or client device user. This info