Method and apparatus for executing software applications
View Patent ↗Consumer electronic devices, such as e.g. high-definition movie players for removable storage media such as optical discs, may provide possibilities for advanced interactivity for the user, implemented as software applications. A question arising generally with such software applications is what the life cycle of such an application is, and who may control it. The invention provides a method for executing software applications within a playback device for audio-video data, wherein data from a first removable storage medium are read for a software application to be executed within said playback device, and the data comprise an indication defining a termination condition for the application. Based on said termination code and depending on how the medium holding the application is ejected, the application is terminated or may survive.
1. Apparatus having a memory storing executable instructions for determining the lifetime of a software application associated with audio-video (AV) data, the AV data comprising a plurality of titles, the apparatus comprising:
means for detecting selection of a first title read from a first storage medium;
means for detecting on the first storage medium a first application and a second application associated with the first title, and an first indication relating to the first application and a second indication relating to the second application, wherein the first and second applications are distinct;
means for playing back the AV data of the first title and executing the first and second applications, and upon termination of the first title, terminating the first application if the first indication has a first value, and otherwise continuing the first application, and terminating the second application if the second indication has the first value, and otherwise continuing the second application, and upon ejection of the first storage medium, terminating the first application if the first indication has a certain value being different from the first value and indicating a title bound application, and otherwise continuing the first application;
means for detecting insertion of a second storage medium;
means for retrieving data from the second storage medium, the data comprising a third indication and AV data of a second title, the third indication being distinct from the second indication; and
means for continuing the first application if the third indication retrieved from the second storage medium has a certain value, and otherwise terminating the first application,
wherein the AV data of the second title are played back without the first application being executed,
and for continuing the second application if the third indication retrieved from the second storage medium has the certain value, and otherwise terminating the second application, wherein the AV data of the second title are played back without the second application being executed.