Method and apparatus for providing subsidiary data synchronous to primary content data

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving all of the subsidiary data corresponding to a program of the primary content data prior to beginning receipt of the program; and storing the subsidiary data corresponding to the program locally.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining subsidiary data comprises obtaining the subsidiary data from a local nonvolatile storage medium.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the subsidiary data comprises: determining an elapsed time of a program of the primary content data; identifying a portion of the subsidiary data which corresponds to the program; identifying a piece of the portion of the subsidiary data which corresponds to the elapsed time of the program; and providing the piece concurrently with the primary content data.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 , wherein identifying a portion of the subsidiary data comprises accessing a database which stores a plurality of portions of the subsidiary data.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary content data comprises data of a television broadcast.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary content data comprises data of a digital satellite broadcast.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary content data comprises data of an Internet broadcast.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary content data comprises data of an audio-only broadcast.

Claim 11

A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: receiving primary content data at an entertainment system from a primary external source; receiving subsidiary data at the entertainment system from a subsidiary external source, the subsidiary data being independent of and supplementing the primary content data; displaying the primary content data on a display device of the entertainment system; determining the identity of the primary content data currently displayed by determining the time and channel corresponding to the primary content data currently displayed and accessing an electronic program guide using the determined time and channel; determining whether subsidiary data supplementing the primary content data exists by accessing a storage database using the primary content data identity; obtaining the subsidiary data identified in the storage database for display; and displaying the subsidiary data on the display device of the entertainment system.

Claim 12

A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: receiving primary content data at an entertainment system from a primary external source; receiving subsidiary data at the entertainment system from a subsidiary external source, the subsidiary data being independent of and supplementing the primary content data; displaying the primary content data on a display device of the entertainment system; determining the identity of the primary content data currently displayed by determining the time and channel corresponding to the primary content data currently displayed and accessing an electronic program guide using the determined time and channel; determining whether subsidiary data supplementing the primary content data exists by accessing a storage database using the primary content data identity; obtaining the subsidiary data identified in the storage database for display; and displaying the subsidiary data on the display device of the entertainment system.

Claim 13

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising: receiving all of the subsidiary data corresponding to a program of the primary content data prior to beginning receipt of the program; and storing the subsidiary data corresponding to the program locally.

Claim 14

The machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions for obtaining subsidiary data comprises instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising obtaining the subsidiary data from a local nonvolatile storage medium.

Claim 15

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for providing the subsidiary data further comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising: determining an elapsed time of a program of the primary content data; identifying a portion of the subsidiary data which corresponds to the program; identifying a piece of the portion of the subsidiary data which corresponds to the elapsed time of a program; and providing the piece concurrently with the primary content data.

Claim 16

The machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for identifying a portion of the subsidiary data comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising accessing a database which stores a plurality of portions of the subsidiary data.

Claim 17

An entertainment system comprising: a first data receiver to receive primary content data from a primary external source; subsidiary data control logic to receive subsidiary data from a subsidiary external source, wherein the subsidiary data is independent of and supplementary to the primary content data; a storage device to store the received subsidiary data; a display device to display the primary content data; a programming database control; an electronic programming guide coupled to the programming database control; synchronization logic operative to determine the identity of the primary content data currently displayed by determining the time and channel corresponding to the primary content data currently displayed and requesting a primary content data identifier from the programming database control based on the electronic program guide and determined time and channel; and storage/retrieval logic to determine whether subsidiary data supplementing the primary content data exists by accessing a storage database using the primary content data identity; wherein the synchronization logic is operative to obtain the subsidiary data identified in the storage database for display and to provide the subsidiary data from the storage device to the display device synchronous to the primary content data.

Claim 18

An entertainment system comprising: a first data receiver to receive primary content data from a primary external source; subsidiary data control logic to receive subsidiary data from a subsidiary external source, wherein the subsidiary data is independent of and supplementary to the primary content data; a storage device to store the received subsidiary data; a display device to display the primary content data; a programming database control; an electronic programming guide coupled to the programming database control; synchronization logic operative to determine the identity of the primary content data currently displayed by determining the time and channel corresponding to the primary content data currently displayed and requesting a primary content data identifier from the programming database control based on the electronic program guide and determined time and channel; and storage/retrieval logic to determine whether subsidiary data supplementing the primary content data exists by accessing a storage database using the primary content data identity; wherein the synchronization logic is operative to obtain the subsidiary data identified in the storage database for display and to provide the subsidiary data from the storage device to the display device synchronous to the primary content data.

Claim 19

The entertainment system of claim 15 , further comprising: reception logic to receive all of the subsidiary data corresponding to a program of the primary content data prior to beginning receipt of the program; and storage logic to control local storing of the subsidiary data corresponding to the program.

Claim 20

The entertainment system of claim 16 , wherein the storage device comprises a local nonvolatile storage medium.

Claim 21

The entertainment system of claim 15 , wherein the synchronization logic is further operative to: determine an elapsed time of a program of the primary content data; identify a portion of the subsidiary data in the storage device which corresponds to the program; retrieve a piece of the portion of the subsidiary data which corresponds to the elapsed time of the program from the storage device; and provide the retrieved piece to the display device synchronous to the elapsed time of the program.

Claim 22

The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether subsidiary data exists comprises accessing the electronic program guide using the determined time and channel.

Claim 23

The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the subsidiary data comprises retrieving the subsidiary data from a memory of the entertainment system.

Claim 24

The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the subsidiary data comprises retrieving the subsidiary data from a remote server.

Claim 25

The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsidiary data comprises at least one of reference information regarding a program of the primary content data, biographical information regarding the actors, guests and participants of a program of the primary content data and advertisements.

Claim 26

The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the identity of the primary content data is performed in response to a change in the primary content data currently displayed.

Claim 27

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for determining whether subsidiary data exists further comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising accessing the electronic program guide using the determined time and channel.

Claim 28

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for obtaining the subsidiary data further comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising retrieving the subsidiary data from a memory of the entertainment system.

Claim 29

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for obtaining the subsidiary data further comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising retrieving the subsidiary data from a remote server.

Claim 30

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the subsidiary data comprises at least one of reference information regarding a program of the primary content data, biographical information regarding the actors, guests and participants of a program of the primary content data and advertisements.

Claim 31

The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for determining the identity of the primary content data are performed in response to a change in the primary content data currently displayed.

Claim 32

The entertainment system of claim 15 , further comprising reception logic coupled to a remote server, wherein the storage database includes an identification of a remote server from which subsidiary data may be retrieved and wherein the synchronization logic is operative to request that the reception logic retrieve the subsidiary data from the identified remote server.

Claim 33

The entertainment system of claim 15 , wherein the subsidiary data comprises at least one of reference information regarding a program of the primary content data, biographical information regarding the actors, guests and participants of a program of the primary content data and advertisements.

Claim 34

The machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the synchronization logic is operative to determine the identity of the primary content data in response to a change in the primary content data currently displayed.

Claim 35

The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the subsidiary data comprises displaying the subsidiary data synchronous to the primary content data.

Claim 36

The method of claim 10 wherein the instructions for displaying the subsidiary data comprise instructions causing the machine to perform operations comprising displaying the subsidiary data synchronous to the primary content data.