Component for Coordinating the Accessing and Rendering of an Application Media Package

1 . A physical memory device having stored thereon a software component for coordinating the accessing and rendering of an application media package, said component comprising:

instructions for accessing an application media package definition;

instructions for parsing said application media package definition;

instructions for rendering, using said parsed application media package definition, a graphical user interface outside of the window of and independent of a web browser application;

instructions for accessing Internet content from a network reference specified by said parsed application media package definition; and

instructions for presenting said Internet content such that it is associated with said graphical user interface.

2 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said instructions for presenting said Internet content render said internet content within said graphical user interface.

3 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for rendering as a part of said graphical user interface a control, said control operable on said Internet content presented in association with said graphical user interface.

4 . The physical memory device of claim 3 , wherein said Internet content includes audio data, and wherein said control is operable to control the state of presentation of said audio data.

5 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions associated with a link to said application media package definition for invoking operation of said software component when said link is selected.

6 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said physical memory device forms a portion of a client computer, and said application media package is stored on a physical memory device forming a portion of a server computer, and wherein said instructions for accessing said application media package definition comprise instructions for retrieving said application media package definition from said physical memory device of said server computer.

7 . The physical memory device of claim 6 , wherein said software component further comprises a user profile, said user profile comprising:

a reference to said application media package if said application media package has been previously retrieved by said software component;

state information regarding the immediately previous or default state of said referenced application media package; and

state information regarding the immediately previous or default state of said software component.

8 . The physical memory device of claim 7 , wherein said software component further comprises:

instructions for retrieving said user profile from a server computer when operation of said software component is invoked;

instructions for updating said user profile based on interactions with said at least one application media package; and

instructions for storing said user profile on said server when operation of said software component is to be shut down.

9 . The physical memory device of claim 8 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for sending login data, including data for use in authenticating a user, to said server computer for authenticating said user prior to retrieving said user profile from said server computer.

10 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said instructions for parsing said application media package definition comprise instructions for parsing extensible markup language (XML) code.

11 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for presenting on a display device of a client computer a plurality of links, each link associated with an application media package, such that selection of at least one of said links causes an application media package definition associated with said at least one link to be installed on said client computer.

12 . The physical memory device of claim 11 , wherein said instructions for installing further comprise instructions which, in response to said selection of at least one link, parse and render said application media package definition associated with said at least one link, and access and present Internet content specified by said parsed application media package definition, following installation of said application media package associated with said at least one link.

13 . The physical memory device of claim 11 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for presenting on said display device at least one link to at least one selected application media package installed on said client computer associated with said at least one link.

14 . The physical memory device of claim 13 , wherein said instructions for presenting said at least one link further comprise instructions which, in response to a selection of one of said at least one links, parse and render said application media package definition associated with said selected link on said display device, and access and present Internet content specified by said parsed application media package definition.

15 . The physical memory device of claim 14 , wherein said software component includes instructions permitting multiple links to be selected, application media package definitions associated with said selected links parsed and rendered as frames on said display device, and Internet content associated with each said parsed and rendered application media package definition accessed and presented in association with its associated rendered frame such that such that frames for a plurality of definitions may be displayed on said display device simultaneously.

16 . The physical memory device of claim 1 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for checking with a server computer to determine whether it is a current version of said software component and for causing the downloading and installation of said current version if it is determined that said software component is not said current version.

17 . A physical memory device associated with a client computer, said client computer arranged to be communicatively coupled with a plurality of content server computers, said physical memory device having stored thereon a software component for coordinating the accessing and rendering of an application media package, said component comprising:

instructions for obtaining from a first of said content server computers, in response to a user selection, an application media package definition;

instructions for parsing said obtained application media package definition;

instructions for rendering on said client computer, using said parsed application media package definition, a graphical user interface rendered outside of the window of a web browser application, and said instructions for rendering operable without invoking a web browser application to render said graphical user interface;

instructions for obtaining from a second of said server computers Internet content, said second server computer identified by a network reference specified in said parsed application media package definition;

instructions for parsing said obtained Internet content; and

instructions for presenting said parsed Internet content on said client computer such that it is associated with said graphical user interface.

18 . The physical memory device of claim 17 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for maintaining a user profile, said user profile comprising:

a reference to said application media package if said application media package has been previously retrieved by said software component;

state information regarding the immediately previous or default state of said referenced application media package;

state information regarding the immediately previous or default state of said software component; and

wherein said software component further comprises:

instructions for retrieving said user profile from a third of said server computers when operation of said software component is invoked;

instructions for updating said user profile within said software component based on interactions with said at least one application media package; and

instructions for storing said user profile on said third server when operation of said software component is to be shut down.

19 . The physical memory device of claim 18 , wherein said instructions for parsing said application media package definition comprise instructions for parsing extensible markup language (XML) code.

20 . A physical memory device associated with a client computer, said client computer arranged to be communicatively coupled with a plurality of server computers, said physical memory device having stored thereon a software component for coordinating the accessing and rendering of an application media package, said component comprising:

instructions for receiving login data, including data for use in authenticating a user, from said client computer;

instructions for sending said login data to a first of said server computers for authenticating said user;

instructions for retrieving, if authenticated, a user profile from said first server computer;

instructions for using said user profile to obtain from a second of said server computers, in response to a user selection, an extensible markup language (XML) application media package definition;

instructions for parsing on said client computer said obtained XML application media package definition;

instructions for rendering on a display device of said client computer, using said parsed XML application media package definition, a graphical user interface, said graphical user interface rendered outside of the window of a web browser application, and said instructions for rendering operable without invoking a web browser application to render said graphical user interface;

instructions for rendering as a part of said graphical user interface a control;

instructions for obtaining from a third said server computer Internet content, said third server computer identified by a network reference specified in said parsed XML application media package definition;

instructions for parsing on said client computer said obtained Internet content;

instructions for presenting said parsed Internet content on said display device of said client computer within said graphical user interface; and

wherein said control is operable on said Internet content to control the presentation of said Internet content within said graphical user interface.

21 . The physical memory device of claim 20 , wherein said software component further comprises:

instructions for updating said user profile based on interactions with said application media package definition; and

instructions for storing said user profile on said first server computer when operation of said software component is to be shut down.

22 . The physical memory device of claim 21 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for presenting on said display device a plurality of links, each link associated with an application media package, such that selection of at least one of said links causes an application media package definition associated with said at least one link to be installed on said client computer.

23 . The physical memory device of claim 22 , wherein said instructions for installing further comprise instructions which, in response to said selection of at least one link, parse said application media package definition associated with said at least one link and thereby render a graphical user interface, and access and present Internet content specified by said parsed application media package definition, following installation of said application media package associated with said at least one link.

24 . The physical memory device of claim 20 , wherein said software component further comprises instructions for presenting on said display device at least one link to at least one selected application media package installed on said client computer associated with said at least one link.

25 . The physical memory device of claim 24 , wherein said instructions for presenting said at least one link further comprise instructions which, in response to a selection of one of said at least one links, parse said application media package definition associated with said selected link and thereby render a graphical user interface on said display device, and access and present Internet content specified by said parsed application media package definition within said graphical user interface.