Device for providing a playable sequence in renderable manner comprises: a providing unit for providing defined functions, said functions for applying playable effects to objects, a time unit for adding time boundaries to said functions, to provide time bounded functions, an ordering unit for ordering said time bounded functions into a sequence, and a translation unit for applying translations to said objects in accordance with said effects.

Device for providing a playable sequence in renderable manner comprises: a providing unit for providing defined functions, said functions for applying playable effects to objects, a time unit for adding time boundaries to said functions, to provide time bounded functions, an ordering unit for ordering said time bounded functions into a sequence, and a translation unit for applying translations to said objects in accordance with said effects.

A method, non-transitory computer-readable medium, and reception apparatus for processing application information. The reception apparatus includes circuitry configured to download application information including at least one parameter and an identifier for each of the at least one parameter. The circuitry is configured to determine whether to download additional data, including an application, based on the application information and download the additional data based on the determination of whether to download the additional data. The circuitry is configured to receive control information, including the identifier for one of the at least one parameter, and retrieve the one of the at least one parameter associated with the identifier from the application information in response to the control information. The circuitry is further configured to cause the application to perform a function based on the retrieved one of the at least one parameter.

A user terminal apparatus is provided. The user terminal apparatus includes a communication interface unit which receives user interface (UI) information data regarding a UI screen corresponding to at least one application displayed on an external apparatus in communication with the external apparatus, a storage unit which stores a UI information conversion format, an information conversion unit which converts the received UI information data using the UI information conversion format, a display unit which displays a UI screen, and a control unit which controls the information conversion unit to convert the UI information data received by the communication interface unit using the UI information conversion format and display on the display unit the UI screen corresponding to the converted UI information data.

A user terminal apparatus is provided. The user terminal apparatus includes a communication interface unit which receives user interface (UI) information data regarding a UI screen corresponding to at least one application displayed on an external apparatus in communication with the external apparatus, a storage unit which stores a UI information conversion format, an information conversion unit which converts the received UI information data using the UI information conversion format, a display unit which displays a UI screen, and a control unit which controls the information conversion unit to convert the UI information data received by the communication interface unit using the UI information conversion format and display on the display unit the UI screen corresponding to the converted UI information data.

A data flow control method for managing the flow of media data from a sending node to a receiving node over a communication network, the receiving node capable of playing said media data, wherein the data transmitted to the receiving node is a sequence of data segments encoded at a plurality of different data rates, and wherein the data flow control method is implemented by the receiving node for controlling the flow of said data from the sending node to the receiving node, the method further comprising: identifying a condition of the communication network between said sending and receiving nodes; identifying a condition of the data buffer at the receiving node; and adjusting the media data flow through said communication network based on the identified condition of the communication network and the identified condition of the receiving node.

A method of processing EPG metadata in a network according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of performing a services discovery procedure utilizing multiple service discovery metadata components supplied by a service provider and processing an EPG metadata. Preferably, the performing step includes the steps of receiving a master SI table which locates in a master SI table location in provisioning information, wherein the provisioning information includes multiple elements, an EPG provider information element in the multiple elements having both a first target virtual channel map identifier element and an EPG data locator element, the first target virtual channel map identifier element indicating that services are covered by each of the EPG metadata provider's EPG data sources, receiving a virtual channel map table which locates in virtual channel map locations in the received master SI table, receiving a virtual channel description table which locates in virtual channel description table locations in the received virtual channel map table, and receiving a source table which locates in source table locations in the received virtual channel description table.

A method of processing EPG metadata in a network according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of performing a services discovery procedure utilizing multiple service discovery metadata components supplied by a service provider and processing an EPG metadata. Preferably, the performing step includes the steps of receiving a master SI table which locates in a master SI table location in provisioning information, wherein the provisioning information includes multiple elements, an EPG provider information element in the multiple elements having both a first target virtual channel map identifier element and an EPG data locator element, the first target virtual channel map identifier element indicating that services are covered by each of the EPG metadata provider's EPG data sources, receiving a virtual channel map table which locates in virtual channel map locations in the received master SI table, receiving a virtual channel description table which locates in virtual channel description table locations in the received virtual channel map table, and receiving a source table which locates in source table locations in the received virtual channel description table.

Apparatus and methods are provided to implement a technique for providing supplemental information and interactive features for content, such as a movie. In one implementation, a content provider builds a package of information and interactive features (interactive extras) using a defined structure and API (application programming interface). The content provider gives the package of extras to several distributors (or provides access to some or all of the package through a network resource). Each distributor uses the package in the distributor's content distribution platform or system by conforming to the API for the package. In this way, the content provider can provide the same package of extras to multiple distributors that may have incompatible platforms without having to build custom packages for each platform. This allows the content provider to build the package once and also provides a more consistent experience across the distributor services.

Apparatus and methods are provided to implement a technique for providing supplemental information and interactive features for content, such as a movie. In one implementation, a content provider builds a package of information and interactive features (interactive extras) using a defined structure and API (application programming interface). The content provider gives the package of extras to several distributors (or provides access to some or all of the package through a network resource). Each distributor uses the package in the distributor's content distribution platform or system by conforming to the API for the package. In this way, the content provider can provide the same package of extras to multiple distributors that may have incompatible platforms without having to build custom packages for each platform. This allows the content provider to build the package once and also provides a more consistent experience across the distributor services.