SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY LOADING SOFTWARE PLATFORMS ONTO PLAYBACK DEVICES

1 . A playback device, comprising:

a processor; and

memory containing a platform installer;

wherein the platform installer configures the processor to dynamically load a software platform from a remote server into device memory that provides a runtime environment for applications using a software platform configuration.

2 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the platform installer is configured to download the software platform configuration, where the software platform configuration specifies a set of software components that combine to form a software platform when downloaded to the playback device.

3 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the software platform configuration is specific to the playback device.

4 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the software platform configuration is specific to a class of playback device.

5 . The playback device of claim 1 further comprising a host application that initializes the platform installer, wherein:

the platform installer further comprises a platform assembly module and a boot loader;

the boot loader is configured to manage communication between the installer and the host application; and

the platform installer utilizes the platform assembly module to download the software platform configuration and to dynamically download the software platform using the software platform configuration.

6 . The playback device of claim 1 , wherein the dynamically loaded software platform includes at least one virtual machine, a common application container and a platform runtime.

7 . The playback device of claim 6 , wherein the dynamically loaded software platform configures the processor to download at least one application.

8 . The playback device of claim 7 , wherein the at least one application is packaged as an application bundle and includes a user interface application configured to run within a virtual machine in the dynamically loaded software platform.

9 . The playback device of claim 8 , wherein the application bundle is dynamically loaded onto the playback device.

10 . A method of dynamically loading a software platform onto a playback device, the method comprising:

sending an identifier of the playback device to a configuration server;

receiving a software platform configuration from the configuration server based upon the identifier; and

dynamically loading a software platform identified using the software platform configuration from a content delivery network, where the software platform provides a runtime environment for applications onto the playback device.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifier identifies the device.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifier identifies a class of device.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the configuration server is configured by an administration console.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the dynamically loaded software platform includes at least one virtual machine, a common application container and a platform runtime.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein at least one application is packaged as an application bundle and is configured to run on top of the virtual machine and the common application container.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the application bundle is dynamically loaded onto the playback device.

17 . A machine readable medium containing processor instructions, where execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform a process comprising:

sending an identifier to a configuration server;

receiving a software platform configuration from the configuration server based upon the identifier; and

dynamically loading a software platform defined by the software platform configuration that provides a runtime environment for applications onto the playback device from a remote server.

18 . The machine readable medium of claim 17 , wherein sending an identifier comprises:

sending a request from a host application to a boot loader to initialize the boot loader;

sending a request from the boot loader to a platform assembly module to initialize the platform assembly module; and

sending the identifier from the platform assembly module to the configuration server.

19 . The machine readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the machine readable medium is non-volatile memory.