HK1100055A - Television signal transmission of interlinked data and navigation information for use by a chaser program - Google Patents

Description

Television signal transmission of navigation information for use by interlinked data and tracker programs

Technical Field

The present invention relates to transmitting and navigating data, and more particularly to transmitting and navigating interconnected data through a television signal distribution network.

Background

Content providers are able to transmit and display interconnected content, such as internet web pages, over a television signal distribution network. However, transmitting such content to the user requires a significant amount of computer processing power and resources. In systems that have been developed, both the computing processing power and resources are located at the cable headend. Each processor chip located at the headend is capable of processing and distributing content for a number of users. In these systems, the more users that receive content, the more processor chips are required for the system to operate. Moreover, when a user attempts to navigate over current content or to different content, many commands must be passed between the user's set-top box and the headend. This process further consumes processor resources, thereby limiting the number of users that can be processed by each processor chip. Therefore, there is a need for a system that transfers interconnected content and allows easy navigation over and between the content while increasing the number of users served by each processor chip located at the headend.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method of transmitting and navigating interlinked data is provided. The method comprises the following steps: encoding, prior to transmission, a plurality of pages of interconnected data in a format; generating corresponding data navigation information for each page of the interconnected data; sending a first page of the interconnected data and corresponding data navigation information thereof to a user through a television signal distribution network; and navigating to a second page of interconnect data by receiving a signal corresponding to the user-selected display link and interpreting the signal based on the data navigation information to create a command signal, wherein the command signal corresponds to the second page of interconnect data, and upon receiving the command signal, transmitting the second page of interconnect data and its corresponding data navigation information.

In a related embodiment, the data navigation information may further include: a description of each link; a set of metadata describing the location and size of the link and describing how to interpret signals from the user for selecting the link or navigating the link. Moreover, the encoding may include: prior to transmission, the pages of interlinked data are encoded in a format that can be displayed by a display device, such as the MPEG-2 format. Additionally, the method may include displaying a first page of the interconnection data on a display device. Additionally, navigating may include generating a signal from the input device by selecting the link displayed on the first page of interconnected data.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method for providing navigable interconnect data. The method comprises the following steps: encoding each page of interconnect data in a format; generating data navigation information for each page of the interconnected data; creating a user session to communicate with a user; sending a first page of the interconnected data and corresponding data navigation information thereof to a user; and transmitting a second page of the interlinked data and its corresponding data navigation information based on the signal received from the user. In addition, the data navigation information may include: a description of each link; a set of metadata describing the location and size of the link and how to interpret signals from the user for selecting the link or navigating the link.

In a related embodiment, the method may further comprise: source data for a plurality of pages including interconnect data is scanned. Additionally, the method may include: after scanning the source data, the source data is stored. Moreover, the method may comprise: each page of interconnect data is presented in a first format, which may be a bitmap format. Additionally, the method may include: the pages of interconnected data and all data navigation information are stored in a memory unit.

In another related embodiment, the method may include: all pages of the interconnect data and all data navigation information are transferred from the storage unit to one of the plurality of cache managers. Moreover, the method may comprise: and communicating with the user through the user session. Additionally, the method may include: a first page of interconnect data and its corresponding data navigation information is sent from the cache manager to a user based on a signal received through a user session. Moreover, the encoding may include encoding the interconnection data in MPEG-2 format.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method of navigating and viewing interlinked data. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first page of interconnect data encoded in a format prior to transmission; receiving data navigation information corresponding to a first page of interconnected data; accessing an interpreter, wherein the interpreter receives data navigation information; viewing a first page of the interconnect data; navigating to a second page of the interconnect data by sending a signal to the interpreter such that the interpreter interprets the signal in accordance with the data navigation information and sends a command signal corresponding to the second page of the interconnect data; receiving a second page of interconnected data and its corresponding data navigation information; and viewing a second page of the interconnect data. Also, the data navigation information may include: a description of the link; a set of metadata describing the location and size of the link and describing how to interpret signals from the user for selecting the link or navigating the link.

Drawings

The above features of the present invention will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is a generalized illustration of a cable distribution system including an interactive programming system with interconnected data;

FIG. 2 is a detailed diagram of components of the interactive programming system;

fig. 3 shows an interactive programming system with interlinked data from the perspective of a user of the system.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a television signal distribution network, and more particularly, a cable distribution network employing an interactive programming system with interconnected data. A television signal distribution network is any system for distributing a television signal to a plurality of television viewing devices including, but not limited to, cable networks, satellite television systems, and DSL television distribution networks. Data is considered to be interconnected when at least two subsets of data are connected by links such that the data can be moved from one subset to another subset by using the links. A link may be any suitable route connecting at least two subsets of data such that data may be moved from one subset to another. Links may also be used to trigger actions. An example of a link may be an HTML link between two internet web pages. Another link may end the session or change the session to another type. Another link may be used to enable the set-top box to tune to a different channel or signal.

The interconnection data may be any type of content capable of being displayed over a wired distribution network including, but not limited to, television signals, internet web pages, music, and other information such as TV guides, local weather and sports information. The interlinked data may be content that is the same for multiple users of the programming system (e.g., all households in a particular town or region), and the content may be updated relatively infrequently (e.g., every few minutes). The interconnect data may also include multiple pages so that one page of data can be moved or navigated to another. A page of interlinked data is a discrete set of interlinked data that can be displayed on a display device and connected to at least one other page by a link. The page may comprise, for example, at least a portion of an internet web page, or a menu-based screen such as a portion of a television program listing.

To provide interlinked data to a large number of users, the interactive programming system encodes and stores each page of data in a suitable format. This allows the system to send any page of interconnect data to any number of users who may request the page. Thus, the system does not need to encode every page of data each time a single user requests it. Allowing each user to browse all pages of data and send them to the user only when the upper layer needs to find the desired page of data. Thus, the resources used to encode each page of data are buffered according to the number of times each page is viewed by the user.

The interconnection data used by interactive programming system 102 may be provided to the interactive programming system as source data, for example, by a cable company that uses the system to provide navigable interconnection data to its users. The source data may be, for example, an HTML page including specific content. The source data will be described in more detail below in conjunction with fig. 2.

In fig. 1, a television signal distribution network 104 transmits interconnection data from nodes 101 to a plurality of subscriber locations 105. A node is a distribution point located on a television signal distribution network. A headend is an example of a node on a cable television network. At each location 105, there is at least one user 1050, where the user may be in an interactive session that receives at least one page of interlinked data at a time for viewing on the display device 106. At least one interactive programming system 102 located at node 101 operates by reading and presenting interlinked data, and encoding a plurality of pages of the interlinked data. To prepare the interconnect data for transmission, at least one interactive programming system 102 at the node 101 begins by reading, presenting, and encoding pages of interconnect data. In particular, each page of the interlinked data is encoded in a format prior to transmission of the data through television signal distribution network 104. Such a format may be, for example, the MPEG-2 format. Interactive programming system 102 will also generate data navigation information for each page of the interlinked data. Then, each encoded page of interconnected data and its corresponding data navigation information is stored. The first page of interconnected data and its corresponding data navigation information is thus ready for transmission and location to set top box 110 of user 1050 via television signal distribution network 104. The receiving set-top box 110 displays a first page of the interlinked data on the display device 106, where the display device may be, but is not limited to, a television. The user 1050 may then perform various actions by using, for example, the keyboard 108 or the input device 107. For example, the user 1050 may navigate to the second page of interlinked data by sending a signal to the interpreter 111 in the set top box 110 using, for example, the input device 107. This signal corresponds to the user selecting the link displayed on the first page of the interconnect data. This link corresponds to a second page of interconnected data that the user 1050 desires to view. The interpreter 111 receives the signal and interprets the signal based on the data navigation information, thereby creating a command signal. The command signal corresponds to the second page of interlinked data and is transmitted from set top box 110 to interactive programming system 102 via cable distribution network 104. Interactive programming system 102, upon receiving the command signal, transmits a second page of interlinked data and its corresponding data navigation information.

FIG. 2 shows the components of interactive programming system 102, which includes a plurality of grouping components: a generator 1021, a viewer 1022, and a manager 1023. These components enable navigable interconnection data to be provided over television signal distribution network 104. Each manager 1023 controls the generator 1021 or the viewer 1022. In general, the manager 1023 controls all communication between the generator 1021 and the viewer 1022. Manager 1023 may also cause interactive programming system 102 to communicate with any system other than interactive programming system 102, such as, but not limited to, data source 1025 or a supervisory cable system. Each manager 1023 also controls the activation and deactivation of the generator 1021 or viewer 1022 that it manages. In a preferred embodiment, communication between the viewers 1022 and the generators 1021 may be arranged such that each viewer is assigned to one generator 1021 and such that each generator may serve multiple viewers 1022.

Data source 1025, which may be external to interactive programming system 102, provides the system with the interconnect data. In particular, data source 1025 provides a collection of source data to interactive programming system 102. The data source may be provided with existing data, such as data present on the internet, or may be provided with newly created data. The set of source data may be any data that can be divided into different subsets that are connected together in any order. The source data set is the interconnect data used by interactive programming system 102. For example, the collection of source data may be, but is not limited to, HTML web pages that include a related series of weather information, such as in Massachusetts. Thus, there are pages that may include a link to one page in the series that includes weather information for Boston and a link to another page that includes weather information for the region of Cape Cod.

In addition to the subset of the set of source data, each page of the interlinked data includes system information used by interactive programming system 102 during encoding or transmission of the interlinked data, or both. The system information may include a root variable, a default variable, an error variable, a lock variable, and an unlock variable. The root variable indicates which page of the interconnection data is the home page from which all other pages of the interconnection data are accessible. The default variable indicates which page of data will be displayed first when the user 1050 initiates an interactive session with the interactive programming system 102. The interactive session may be initiated when the set-top box is turned on or when an interactive channel or service is selected using the set-top box remote control. Interactive programming system 102 responds by creating an interactive session by any of a number of known methods. The error variable indicates what should be displayed when interactive programming system 102 is unable to transmit the requested page of interlinked data. The lock variable and unlock variable are used to prevent and allow, respectively, updates that may be made to the source page view of the interconnected data as the contents of portions of the source data change.

It is convenient to organize the source data into multiple sets, so that there is one generator 1021 for each source data set. Each generator 1021 includes a page processor, at least one web crawler (spider), at least one renderer/encoder, and a storage unit for each source data set. The renderer/encoder consists of two separate units combined together: a renderer and an encoder. The spider scans the source data of a plurality of pages that make up the interconnect data, determining whether pages have been added, modified, or deleted since the last scan. After scanning the source data, the storage unit stores the source data. The renderer unit of the renderer/encoder then renders each page of data into a first format suitable for later encoding, such as but not limited to a bitmap format.

The renderer also looks up all links on each page of data and generates data navigation information for each page of data. The data navigation information may include pages for interconnecting dataA description of each link of (1). The description of a link identifies the actions to be performed in response to the link. The description may be an identifier that uniquely identifies the target page. The target page is another page connected to the page by a link. Alternatively, the link may trigger an action. The data navigation information may also include a set of metadata. The set of metadata describes the location and size of the links on the page of interconnect data when that page of interconnect data is displayed. The metadata also includes information for guiding the user in interacting with the display. For example, when a user is on a particular link, and wants to move to another link that is to the right of the current link, the user presses a key, such as a right arrow key, and the interpreter 111 accesses the metadata to learn what will happen when the right arrow key is pressed. An example of a format for data navigation information is shown below. Although this description indicates that the links are rectangular in shape, the links may be other link shapes, such as circular or linear.

In part	Item(s)	Description of the invention	Number of bits
				Header (one for each message)	pageID	All pages that any viewer can display are unique IDs. The set-top box interpreter ignores the metadata with the pageID of the last metadata it reads	64
Head part	discardUnuseInput	It is determined whether the set top box has dropped mouse moves and has not dropped keys listed in the "Link Description" portion of the message (see below). "exThe it and "F7" (off keyboard) keys are not affected by this setting. Discard unlisted keys and mouse move 0 forward unlisted keys and mouse move normally	8
				Head part	numLinks	Number of links on a page (number of tracker positions). The IDs from 220 to 255 are reserved so that a page can have up to 220 links	8
Head part	initialLink	Link ID to be highlighted at page load	8
				Head part	xResolution	Screen X resolution	16
Head part	yResolution	Screen Y resolution	16
				Link description (one per link)	linkID	The link ID, also known as an identifier, is unique across all links of this page	8
Link description	rectTop	Y-coordinate of top edge of tracker (chassis) frame	16
				Link description	rectLeft	X coordinate of the left side of the tracker frame	16
Link description	rectBottom	Y-coordinate of bottom edge of tracker frame	16
				Link description	rectRight	X coordinate of the right side of the tracker frame	16
Link description	chaserColor	Color of tracker frame	8
				Link description	chaserPattern	Tracker frame style (such as double hatching)	8
Link description	chaserLineWidth	Line width of tracker frame on pixel	8
				Link description	upArrowEffcct	When the link is the active (selected) one, it is determinedThe effect of pressing this key. Including the ID or value 255 of the link that should become active. The latter indicates that the set-top box should specify the ID of this link, which will be	8

		SelectAction message to user session
				Link description	downArrowEffect	Same as above	Same as above
Link description	leftArrowEffect	Same as above	Same as above
				Link description	rightArrowEffect	Same as above	Same as above
Link description	tabEffect	Same as above	Same as above
				Link description	shiftTabEffect	Same as above	Same as above
Link description	pageDownEffect	Same as above	Same as above
				Link description	pageUpEffect	Same as above	Same as above
Link description	homeEffect	Same as above	Same as above
				Link description	endEffect	Same as above	Same as above
Link description	forwardKeyEffect	Same as above	Same as above
				Link description	backKeyEffect	Same as above	Same as above

After each page of data has been rendered, the encoder unit of the renderer/encoder encodes each page of data in a different format, such as the MPEG-2 format. When the pages of the interlinked data have been encoded and the data navigation information for each page has been generated, the interlinked data and its data navigation information are stored in the storage unit. The memory unit then notifies the page handler that the interconnect data assigned to the generator has been encoded and that data navigation information has been generated for each page of data. The page processor then transfers all pages of encoded interconnect data and their data navigation information from the storage unit to a viewer 1022 associated with generator 1021.

Each viewer 1022 includes a session handler, a user session, a set-top box handler, and a cache manager. Each viewer is able to generate a certain number of user sessions up to the maximum number that the viewer can handle. The session handler actually creates a user session for the viewer 1022. The user session is created when the session processor receives a request from the set top box 110 of the user 1050 to search for interlinked data from the interactive programming system 102. The communication connection between the user session and the set top box 110 of its user 1050 is created, maintained, and recorded by the set top box processor of the viewer 1022. Preferably, the user is caused to communicate with a viewer assigned to the generator associated with the set of source data that the user wants to access. The set-top box processor also controls all communications from the user session to the user 1050 through the set-top box 110 and the interpreter 111, and all communications from the user 1050 to the user session through the interpreter 111 and the set-top box 110. When the set-top box processor of viewer 1022 receives a request for a page of interlinked data, the user session notifies the cache manager of the request. The cache manager then retrieves the page from its storage location. The generator 1021 communicates with the viewer assigned to it periodically or on an as needed basis to keep the content of the storage unit up to date.

The user session is able to access the interconnection data from the cache manager and its data navigation information by requesting a particular page of interconnection data from the cache manager. When the cache manager receives such a request from a user session, the request is recorded and responded to with the desired page of interconnected data and the data navigation information corresponding thereto. The desired page of interlinked data and its corresponding data navigation information is then sent out through the cable distribution network 104 and addressed to the set top box 110 of the requesting user 1050. The user 1050 can then view the page of interlinked data on the display device 106. If the user 1050 wants to navigate to a different page of interlinked data, a link to the different page is selected through an input device such as a keyboard or remote controller. This generates a command signal determined by the data navigation information. Command signals are sent from the set top box 110 of the user 1050 to the user session. The user session responds in the manner described above by transmitting the selected page of interlinked data and the data navigation information corresponding thereto to set top box 110 of user 1050 via the television signal distribution network. Both page data and data navigation information can be transmitted in a television signal such as an MPEG signal. The page data is transmitted in video packets for display on the user's television. In MPEG signals, it has been found effective to send data navigation information in private transport packets.

Fig. 3 shows interactive programming system 102 from the perspective of user 1050. More specifically, to enable user 1050 to view and navigate the interlinked data, the decoder of set top box 110 receives a first page of interlinked data from interactive programming system 102 for display on display device 106 via the decoder of set top box 110. The set-top box decodes and displays the page. The private data packet is transmitted to the interpreter 111. Thus, the interpreter 111 receives data navigation information for creating navigation and display entities or trackers. The tracker may be displayed as a box around the display link. The interpreter uses the data navigation information to present the tracker around or on the visual representation of the link on the screen of the display device 106. In particular, the interpreter accurately locates the tracker on the display using metadata of data navigation information describing the location and size of the link. The user can then also see the tracker highlighted or pointed to one link when the user views the first page of decoded interlinked data on the display device 106.

The tracker then causes the user 1050 to navigate between links on the first page of interconnected data by using the input device 107. The input device 107 may be, for example, a remote control or a keyboard. The user 1050 sends the signal 130 to the interpreter 111 in the set-top box 110 by activating a selection on the input device 107. The signal 130 describes what commands the user 1050 is attempting to execute. For example, the user 1050 may press a down arrow key on the input device 107 indicating that the user wishes to move from the first link (which is the currently active link) to another link below the first link. Signal 130 will then describe this command. Interpreter 111 receives signal 130 and uses metadata describing how to interpret the signal from the user for navigating the link. This metadata describes what each key of the input device 107 does based on the currently active link. In this example, the metadata would indicate that pressing the down arrow key should make the link below the first link the currently active link when the first link is the currently active link. The interpreter will then implement this change, displaying the tracker on the next link. The interpreter waits to receive its next command. The interpreter 111 is fully used to process this navigation so that it is not necessary to send any signal back to the headend 101 to effect the navigation. Thus, navigation from one link to another on the display page of interlinked data operates entirely on the current display page of interlinked data.

The interpreter also allows the user 1050 to navigate from a first page of displayed interconnected data to another page of interconnected data. To do so, the user 1050 sends the new signal 130 to the interpreter 111 in the set-top box 110 by pressing a button on the input device 107 (such as an enter button). In this case, signal 130 depicts that user 1050 has selected a link on the displayed page corresponding to the second page of interconnected data. The word "second" is used to mean "next" rather than any pre-arranged order. In fact, the user may select any link to stop on the desired next or second page. For example, the user 1050 may be watching weather information in massachusetts. The selected second page may display weather information of boston. A user desiring to view the weather information of boston may press an appropriate button on the input device 107. The signal 130 is then sent to the interpreter 111. The interpreter 111 will interpret the signal 130 according to the metadata of the data navigation information. In this case, the interpreter 111 uses metadata describing how to interpret the signal from the user for selecting a particular link. The metadata here would indicate that when the user 1050 selects the selected link, the user wants to view the second page of interlinked data. The metadata includes an identifier corresponding to a second page of the interconnection data. This identifier is sent back to the interactive programming system 102 as a command signal 112 from the interpreter 111 in the set-top box 110. The command signal 112 is transmitted over an upstream channel of the wired distribution network 104. Other upstream channels such as telephone lines or wireless connections may also be used. The viewer 1022, and more particularly the user session, receives the command signal 112. It requests the second page of interconnect data and its data navigation information from the cache manager using the identifier in command signal 112. After the second page of data navigation information and its data navigation information are received by the user session, they are transmitted to set top box 110 through television signal distribution network 104. The set top box 110 receives the second page and its data navigation information. The set top box 110 then causes a second page of the interconnection data to be displayed on the display device 106. The interpreter 111 receives data navigation information for a second page of interconnected data, displays links applicable to the second page, and creates new trackers based on the new data navigation information. The user 1050 can then view the second page and can navigate its links or select one of its links to access yet another page of interconnected data or perform other actions. Thus, in order to navigate to a different page of interlinked data, user 1050 need only send the identifier in command signal 112 back to interactive programming system 102 at headend 101. The interpreter 111 has necessarily interpreted the signal 130 received from the input device 107 and the signal 130 itself need not be transmitted to the headend 101.

The tracker display must be synchronized with the page display so that the tracker based on the previous page does not appear on the new page. Thus, when the user requests any action with signal 130 (which may require replacement of the currently displayed page), interpreter 111 locks and deletes the tracker. When the tracker is locked, it is prevented from further navigation on the page. The interpreter discards any user input after the requested action. The interpreter sends the identifier of the selected link to interactive programming system 102 via command signal 112. The tracker navigation and user input are kept locked until the new set of navigation information is received by the interpreter. Thus, the user cannot move the tracker until the set-top box displays the next page (if any). The locking and deleting of the tracker prevents the tracker from being displayed in a position that does not correspond to the display image. Once the page and its navigation information are received, the tracker may be displayed and navigation continued. If the action requested by the user is for a switch of session or a change of service and the request is denied, the interactive programming system can re-send the current page and its navigation information, thereby re-displaying the tracker.

The present invention may be embodied in many other forms without departing from the true scope of the invention. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (22)

1. A method of transmitting and navigating interlinked data, comprising:

encoding the pages of the interconnect data in a format prior to transmission;

generating corresponding data navigation information for each page of the interconnect data;

sending the first page of the interconnected data and the corresponding data navigation information thereof to a user through a television signal distribution network;

navigating to a second page of the interlinked data by receiving a signal corresponding to a display link selected by a user, and interpreting the signal based on the data navigation information to create a command signal, wherein the command signal corresponds to the second page of the interlinked data, and upon receiving the command signal, transmitting the second page of the interlinked data and its corresponding data navigation information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data navigation information further comprises:

a description of each link; and

a set of metadata describing a location and size corresponding to each link,

and describing how to interpret signals from the user for selecting a link or navigating the link.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein encoding further comprises: the pages of the interlinked data are encoded in MPEG-2 format prior to transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying a first page of the interconnection data on a display device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein navigating further comprises generating a signal from an input device by selecting a link of the first page of interconnected data using the input device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the television signal distribution network comprises a cable network.

7. A method of providing navigable interconnect data, comprising:

encoding each page of said interconnect data in a format;

generating data navigation information for each page of the interconnection data;

creating a user session at a node of a television signal distribution network for communicating with a user;

sending the first page of the interconnected data and the corresponding data navigation information thereof to the user through a television signal distribution network; and

transmitting, over the television signal distribution network, a second page of the interconnected data and its corresponding data navigation information based on signals received from the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data navigation information further comprises:

a description of each link of the interconnection data; and

a set of metadata describing a location and size corresponding to each link,

and describing how to interpret signals from the user for selecting a link or navigating the link.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: source data of a plurality of pages including the interconnect data is read.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: after the source data has been read, storing the results of reading the source data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: each page of the interconnect data is presented in a first format.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the presenting further comprises: each page of the interconnect data is presented in a bitmap format.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: storing the multiple pages of interconnected data and their corresponding data navigation information in a storage unit.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: transferring the multiple pages of interconnected data and their corresponding data navigation information from the storage unit to a cache manager.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the cache manager provides the first page of interconnect data and corresponding data navigation information for transmission to the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein encoding further comprises: the interconnection data is encoded in MPEG-2 format.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the television signal distribution network comprises a cable network.

18. A method of navigating and viewing interlinked data, comprising:

receiving, prior to transmission, a first page of interconnected data encoded in a format via a television signal distribution network;

receiving, over the television signal distribution network, data navigation information corresponding to a first page of the interconnected data;

accessing an interpreter, wherein the interpreter receives the data navigation information;

viewing a first page of the interconnect data;

navigating to a second page of the interconnect data by sending a signal to the interpreter, causing the interpreter to interpret the signal in accordance with the data navigation information and send a command signal corresponding to the second page of the interconnect data;

receiving a second page of the interconnected data and its corresponding data navigation information; and

a second page of the interconnect data is viewed.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the data navigation information further comprises:

a description of each link of the interconnection data; and

a set of metadata describing the location and size corresponding to each link and describing how to interpret signals from the user for selecting a link or navigating the link.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving further comprises: prior to transmission, a first page of interconnect data encoded in MPEG-2 format is received.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein navigating further comprises: selecting a link of the first page of interconnect data using an input device and sending the selection in a signal to the interpreter.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the television signal distribution network comprises a cable network.