CONTEXT LIFE TIME MANAGEMENT OF A USER INTERFACE IN A DIGITAL TV BROADCAST

摘要

In a digital television broadcast that contains executable code segments that are associated with specific video segments, a context duration time is defined for each executable component. The context duration time is determined so as to correspond to the context of the video segment that is associated with the executable component. In a preferred embodiment, the context duration time for the executable component is determined when the corresponding video segment is being prepared for encoding into the transport stream. The context duration time is subsequently included in the encoding of the executable component in the transport stream. When the executable component is decoded from the transport stream, the context duration time is used to effect a termination of the executable component after the context duration time has elapsed. In this manner, each launched executable component will be terminated within a predetermined time from the start of execution of the executable component, independent of the subsequent contents of the transport stream.