URI: Use cases

Some suggested hypothetical use cases:*

(1) It is the year 2002. Fox is broadcasting a World Cup game from South
Korea in both analog and digital formats, with the broadcast reaching
North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia, etc.,
through a wide variety of local affiliates and re-broadcast operators.
Fox wishes to put a hyperlink to the broadcast on its web site, so that
users of Internet-connected TV receivers all over the world with the
right software (perhaps native, perhaps downloaded) can click on the
hyperlink and have their receivers tune to the broadcast (or set a
reminder for the broadcast, if the game is not currently on).

(2) In the same situation as (1) above, the broadcast is data-enhanced,
with a data carousel module or an encapsulated IP datagram containing a
file which gives up-to-the-second statistics on goals scored, fouls
committed, corner kicks taken, shots at goal, shots on goal, etc. Fox
wants to put a URI on their web site which references this file,
allowing applications on Internet-connected TV receivers all over the
world  to get to the file and display it in nifty ways.

(3) In the same broadcast situation as (1) and (2) above, Fox wants to
put hyperlinks to the program and/or data in other data files being
broadcast on the same Fox channel and in other Fox channels, so that
receivers can set reminders for the upcoming game and/or data file.

(4) Paramount Productions wants to put on its web site a generic
hyperlink to Star Trek episodes and/or movies. A user of an
Internet-connected TV receiver with the right software can click on this
hyperlink, and the receiver will give the user a mini-EPG showing the
Star Trek episodes and/or movies which the receiver can receive now or
in the near future. The user can then select a current show for viewing
or a future show to set a reminder.

(5) In the same situation as in (4) above, the producer wants to put on
its web site a hyperlink to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series, and
have the mini-EPG show only the current and upcoming episodes of this
series.

(6) In the same situation as in (3) above, the producer wants to put on
its web site a hyperlink to each of the episodes which have been filmed
of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series. By clicking on one of these
hyperlinks, the user can see a mini-EPG showing the current and upcoming
showings of this specific episode.

(7) A local broadcast station is having a promotion in connection with
their weekly broadcasts of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It wants to put a
hyperlink on its web site which viewers in its local viewing area can
click on to tune to, or set a reminder for, its broadcast of this week's
episode.

(8) A large network, e.g., Fox, wants to put on its website a generic
invitation to watch a particlular one of its channels, with a hyperlink
which viewers anywhere in the world where the network broadcasts can
click on in order to tune to that channel.

(9) A local affiliate of the network mentioned in (8) above wants to put
a hyperlink on its web site which viewers in its viewing area can click
on to tune to a particular one of its channels. (It may be broadcasting
multiple virtual channels in the same physical broadcast band, in the
case of a digital broadcast).

(10) It is common these days for multiple cable channels to be owned by
the same parent corporation. In the future this may be increasingly true
for terrestrial broadcast as well. In such a situation, consider the
case where the parent corporation wants its multiple channels to be able
to advertise each other, with hyperlinks allowing the user of a receiver
with the right software to click on such an advertisement appearing in
one channel and have the receiver automatically switch to the advertised
channel, or set a reminder to an upcoming show in the advertised
channel.

(11) In the same situation as in (10) above, suppose a single
application can operate with the data of any of multiple different data
services broadcast on different channels, for example a ticker
application which can display many different categories of ticker
information. The provider of these multiple different data services
provides along with each service an index which the viewer can use to
select the data service(s) of interest. The application uses the URI
associated with each service in the index to tune to the service(s)
selected by the viewer.

*All uses of trademarks in these descriptions are for illustrative
purposes only. There is no intent to assert that the trademark holders
actually do or do not intend to carry out any of the suggested
activities.

--
Gomer Thomas
LGERCA, Inc.
40 Washington Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
phone: 609-716-3513
fax: 609-716-3503

Received on Wednesday, 16 December 1998 14:57:48 UTC