Server-Assisted Web Page Rendering for Set-Top Boxes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional set-top-boxes (STBs) often lack the processing capabilities to efficiently render certain web page contents, leading to user experience issues due to latency and unsupported content types, when users attempt to access the Internet through their televisions.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where an STB communicatively coupled to a server offloads web page processing tasks, such as content acquisition, processing, and encoding, to the server, which determines and processes content types like video, audio, and graphics, and encodes them for the STB to render the complete web page, enhancing user experience by reducing latency and supporting various content types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If web page processing is performed locally on the STB, then the STB can render web pages independently, but the processing capability and latency are insufficient for certain content types
Solution Approach 1:
A remote server is introduced as an intermediary between the STB and the web server. The server receives web page requests from the STB, processes complex content types (video, audio, graphics), and returns processed content to the STB for rendering. This mediator handles the processing tasks that the STB cannot perform independently, resolving the contradiction between processing speed and content type support.
Solution Approach 2:
The web page processing function is segmented into two parts: content acquisition and processing are handled by the remote server, while rendering and display are performed by the STB. This division of labor allows each component to specialize in what it does best, improving overall system performance and content type support capability.
2Loss of time
If the STB processes web page contents locally, then device complexity is reduced, but latency increases due to limited processing capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The remote server acts as an intermediary that handles computationally intensive processing tasks, reducing the processing burden on the STB. By offloading complex content processing to the server, the STB can focus on rendering and display, thereby reducing rendering latency despite the added server infrastructure complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the STB has limited processing capabilities, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to support certain web page contents is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The remote server serves as a capability extender that provides advanced processing functions to the STB. The server handles complex content types such as video, audio, and graphics processing, allowing the STB to support a wide range of content types without increasing its own processing complexity or architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A STB, communicatively coupled to a server, receives a web page request when, for example, a URI, is entered into a web browser running in the STB. In response, the STB sends a processing assistance request to the server for processing the entire web page regardless of processing capability of the STB. The STB receives processed information resources or contents associated with the entire web page from the server. The server retrieves information resources or contents associated with the entire web page from a web server based on the received processing assistance request. The server determines content type such as video and/or graphics of the retrieved information resources or contents for corresponding content processing. The server determines content formats supported by the STB for content encoding. The STB decodes the resulting encoded information resources or contents from the server to render the entire web page in the STB.