公开(公告)号：EP1082853A1

公开(公告)日：2001-03-14

申请号：EP99939816.7

申请日：1999-05-28

申请人： Diva Systems Corporation

发明人： GOODE, Christopher ,  McDEVITT, F., Ray ,  GORDON, Donald, F. ,  ROZA, Eric, S. ,  LaROCCA, Tobie ,  THOMAS, Phillip, A. ,  JOHNSON, Michael, D.

IPC分类号： H04N7/173

CPC分类号： H04N21/4751 ,  G06Q30/0207 ,  H04N7/17318 ,  H04N21/2543 ,  H04N21/25875 ,  H04N21/47202 ,  H04N21/4753

摘要： A method and apparatus for providing subscription-on-demand (SOD) services, dependent subscription services and contingent services for a interactive information distribution system, where a consumer may subscribe to packages of on-demand programs for a single price and view the programs in the subscribed package at any time for no additional cost. The apparatus and method are embodied in a combination of software, which provides a so-called navigator, and hardware, including a subscriber terminal that provides certain functionality for the navigator and service provider equipment that supports the functionality of the terminal. As such, graphical user interface functionality is distributed between the service provider equipment and subscriber equipment (subscriber terminal). Such distribution provides an enjoyable, real time interactive process for accessing SOD services that allows the subscriber to rapidly identify and access a subscription service. In addition, a non-subscriber of a particular service is quickly identified and provided the opportunity to, through the use of a graphical user interface, subscribe to the programming provided by the system.