Compact graphical interactive information system

Claim 2

In a system including a plurality of reception components having defined display capabilities, at least two of the plurality of reception components having different display capabilities, a method of providing a graphical interactive information application for display to, and control by, a user, comprising the steps of: broadcasting at least one graphical object definition record comprising hint information describing optional image characteristics of a graphical object; receiving the broadcast graphical object definition record and hint information at each of the plurality of reception components; and creating different graphical interactive information displays on ones of the plurality of reception components having different display capabilities based upon the broadcast graphical object definition record and using the hint information to selectively display the graphical object with the optional image characteristics supported by the capabilities of the reception components.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a form object definition record.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2, wherein the form object definition record comprises hint information describing one or more image characteristics selected from the group consisting of: foreground color; background color; border color; border style; border width; border options; form transition effect; form background gradient fill; clip; scale to fit; scale; text private; text numeric; and text editable.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a button object definition record.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4, wherein the button object definition record comprises hint information describing a legend appearing on a button.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a text object definition record.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a bitmap object definition record.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a picture object definition record.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a list object definition record.

Claim 11

The method of claim 9, wherein the list object definition record comprises hint information describing one or more image characteristics selected from the group consisting of: highlight color; list exclusive; list exclusive none; list non exclusive; list horizontal; list vertical; list sort ascending; list sort descending; list control up; list control down; list control left; and list control right.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a cursor object definition record.

Claim 13

The method of claim 11, wherein the cursor object definition record comprises hint information describing whether a box is displayed.

Claim 14

In a system including first and second reception components having different display capabilities, a method of decoding a broadcast signal comprising the steps of: receiving the broadcast signal at the first and second reception components; extracting at the first and second reception components an executable graphical interactive information system application including at least one image and hint information describing optional characteristics of the image; executing the graphical interactive information system application on the first reception component to generate the at least one image for display on a first display device coupled to the first reception component; executing the graphical interactive information system application on the second reception component to generate the at least one image for display on a second display device coupled to the second reception component; selectively adapting the generation of the at least one image to the display device of the first reception component based upon the hint information and the display capabilities of the first reception component; and selectively adapting the generation of the at least one image to the display device of the second reception component based upon the hint information and the display capabilities of the second reception component, wherein the at least one image displayed on the first display device is different than the at least one image displayed on the second display device.

Claim 15

In a system including first and second reception components having different display capabilities, a method of decoding a broadcast signal comprising the steps of: receiving the broadcast signal at the first and second reception components; extracting at the first and second reception components an executable graphical interactive information system application including at least one image and hint information describing optional characteristics of the image; executing the graphical interactive information system application on the first reception component to generate the at least one image for display on a first display device coupled to the first reception component; executing the graphical interactive information system application on the second reception component to generate the at least one image for display on a second display device coupled to the second reception component; selectively adapting the generation of the at least one image to the display device of the first reception component based upon the hint information and the display capabilities of the first reception component; and selectively adapting the generation of the at least one image to the display device of the second reception component based upon the hint information and the display capabilities of the second reception component, wherein the at least one image displayed on the first display device is different than the at least one image displayed on the second display device.

Claim 16

The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining, from the interactive application, how a user may respond to the system application.

Claim 17

The method of claim 14, further comprising: receiving a response from the user; and sending the response to a response collector, wherein an identity of the response collector is determined from the interactive application.

Claim 18

The method of claim 13, wherein extracting comprises: extracting an application header record from the broadcast signal; determining, from the application header record, a format of information transmitted within the broadcast signal.

Claim 19

The method of claim 13, further comprising: extracting error code information from the broadcast signal; analyzing the error code information to detect a broadcast error; and halting the generation of the at least one image in response to the detection of a broadcast error.

Claim 20

The method of claim 13, further comprising storing the graphical interactive information system application in a memory.

Claim 21

The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one image is a form and the hint information describes one or more image characteristics selected from the group consisting of: foreground color; background color; border color; border style; border width; border options; transition effect; background gradient fill; clip; scale to fit; scale; text private; text numeric; and text editable.

Claim 22

The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one image is a button and the hint information describes optional characteristics of a legend appearing on the button.

Claim 23

The method of claim 13, wherein the wherein the at least one image is a list and the hint information describes one or more image characteristics selected from the group consisting of: highlight color; list exclusive; list exclusive none; list non exclusive; list horizontal; list vertical; list sort ascending; list sort descending; list control up; list control down; list control left; and list control right.

Claim 24

The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one image is a cursor and the broadcast at least one graphical object definition record comprises a cursor and the hint information describes whether a box is displayed.