KR20070032331A - Apparatus and method for activating an interactive application - Google Patents

Abstract

The activation device 300 is configured to conditionally activate an interactive application associated with the digital program. The activation device 300 includes receiving means 310 for receiving program information of the digital program and application information about an interactive application, and detecting means 320 for detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed. Activating means 330 for obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter has an interactive application having at least two different parts, at least one of which is conditional depending on the program mode. Is executed.

Digital Programs, Interactive Applications, Live Play, Non-Live Play, Hybrid

Description

Apparatus and method for activating an interactive application

The present invention relates to a method of associating an interactive application with a digital program, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of settings of an interactive application, generating the interactive application with these settings, and associating the generated interactive application with the digital program. It relates to a method comprising the step of associating.

In addition, the present invention relates to a method of activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, the method comprising: receiving program information of the digital program and application information about the interactive application, and how the digital program is executed. It relates to a method comprising the step of detecting a program mode of.

In addition, the present invention provides an activation device for activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, comprising: receiving means for receiving program information of the digital program and application information relating to the interactive application, and the digital indicating how the digital program is executed. A activating device comprising detection means for detecting a program mode of a program.

The invention also relates to a set top box comprising a receiver for receiving a digital program associated with an interactive application in a set top box activating an interactive application associated with a digital program.

The invention also relates to a television set comprising a television set for activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, a receiver for receiving a digital program associated with the interactive application, and a display for displaying the digital program.

The invention also relates to a digital recorder for storing a digital program and activating an application associated with the digital program, the receiver for receiving the digital program associated with the interactive application, a storage medium, the digital program for storing the interactive application and conditional Storage means for storing data and retrieval means for retrieving a digital program associated with an interactive application from a storage medium.

In addition, the present invention provides a computer program product for activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, the code for receiving program information of the digital program and application information relating to the interactive application, and the digital indicating how the digital program is executed. A computer program product comprising code for detecting a program mode of a program.

The invention also relates to a storage carrier comprising such a computer program product.

The invention also relates to an interactive application associated with a digital program.

The PCT patent application of publication number WO01 / 33852A1 describes a system and method for recording a pushed data stream that is broadcast to a receiving station and comprises one or more data objects. A data stream can refer to live data objects that are immediately consumed and subsequently discarded.

In the PCT patent application mentioned above, the data stream may include object properties corresponding to the file table and the data objects. When the data stream is received by the receiving station, the individual data objects are extracted from the data stream, the data objects with object properties and file table are stored on a storage device where the live data objects are not stored, and these live data References to the objects are stored, so when the program is later played, the current version of the referenced live data objects can be used.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method of associating an interactive application with a digital program, which provides a more flexible mechanism for associating an interactive application with a digital program. This object is achieved according to the invention in a way wherein one of the settings is an activation parameter indicating that the interactive application is only activated when the digital program is non-live played.

Application modes used in the method known from the PCT patent application of publication number WO 01/33852 include "live only" and "live & storage", where "live only" means that the program When played live, it means the application is consumed immediately, and "live & save" means that the application is active regardless of whether the program is played live or non-live.

According to the invention, there is one or more application modes that are "storage only" and "storage only" means that the application is only activated when the program is played non-live. An example of "save only" is a "quiz" application in a multimedia distance education program, which is available to students only after the user saves the program. In such a situation, during the live play of the program, the student cannot access this "save only" application, so the user can concentrate on the teacher's description and not disturb the teacher's schedule.

By using activation parameters that indicate that an application is only activated when the program is played non-live, the application modes are abundant and the program author has more choices for the applications.

Another object of the invention is to provide another method of associating an interactive application with a digital program, which provides a more flexible mechanism for associating an interactive application with a digital program. This purpose is that one of the settings is an activation parameter indicating that the interactive application has at least two different parts and at least one of the at least two parts is conditionally executed according to the program mode and the program mode is digital. It is achieved according to the invention in a method characterized by indicating how the program is executed.

Note that the application mode used in the method known from the PCT patent application of publication number WO01 / 33852A1 applies to the entire application.

According to the invention, there are at least two parts of an application here called a "hybrid" application, at least one part having a different partial mode than the other part (s). An example of a "hybrid" application is an "exercise" application in a multimedia distance-training program, which includes 30 exercises, where 20 exercises are available to students only after the user saves the program. The rest of the exercises in this application are available to students only when the program is played live. That is, the partial mode of the 20 exercises is "save only" and the partial mode of the remaining exercises is "live only". In this situation, during the live play of the program, the student can only access this "live only" part of the application, so that the user can focus on the teacher's description and will not interfere with the teacher's schedule.

By using an activation parameter indicating that the application has at least one of at least two parts running in program mode and at least one part having a part mode different from the other part (s) The application has been created. The application mode of this application is hybrid. Therefore, application modes become richer, and program authors have more choices for applications.

An embodiment of the method according to the invention is described in claim 3. In such an environment, the application has at least two parts, at least one of the at least two parts being executed only when the program is played non-live, which means that this part cannot be executed during live play of the program.

An embodiment of the method according to the invention is described in claim 4. In such an environment, the application has at least two parts, at least one of the at least two parts being executed only when the program is played live, which means that this part cannot be executed during non-live play of the program.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, which provides a more flexible mechanism for activating an interactive application into a digital program. This object is achieved according to the invention in a method wherein the method has a step of obtaining an activation parameter from the application information and the activation parameter is activated only when the program is played non-live.

By using the activation parameters, during live play of this program, on the receiving side, the application can be scheduled only for storage purposes, not provided to the viewer, and also played in a mode in which this program is "played non-live". When this application is activated and provided to the viewer.

An example of this invention is when a receiver receives a "quiz" application in a multimedia distance learning program with an activation parameter "save only". When the program is played live, the receiver will send this application for storage instead of providing it to the student, and if the program is played non-live, the receiver will provide the application to the student.

Another object of the invention is to provide another method of activating an interactive application associated with a digital program, which provides a more flexible mechanism for activating an interactive application into a digital program. The object is that the method has a step of obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts and at least one of the at least two parts is conditionally dependent on the program mode. It is achieved according to the invention in a method characterized in that it is carried out.

The method according to the invention makes it possible to provide different criteria to different parts of the application so that the different parts will run in different program modes.

An example of this invention is when a receiver receives a "practice" application in a multimedia distance learning program with an activation parameter "hybrid". If the program is played live, the receiver will block the "store only" portion of the application and provide students with the "live only" portion of the application.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus according to the preamble, which provides a more flexible mechanism for activating an interactive application into a digital program. This object further comprises a means for the device obtaining the activation parameter from the application information wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts and at least one of the two parts is conditional depending on the program mode. It is achieved according to the invention in an apparatus characterized in that it is executed as.

In the activation device according to the invention, when an application is received, an activation parameter of the application is obtained, which indicates that the application has at least two parts, and then the application is sent to the launchable list of the application manager, Each part of the application will be processed according to the program mode, so that the program author can further control the application.

The set top box according to the invention is achieved by the set top box according to the preamble further comprising an activation device for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13.

The television set according to the invention is achieved by the activation of the television set according to the preamble further activating an interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13.

The digital recorder according to the invention is achieved by the digital recorder according to the preamble further comprising an activation device for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a computer program product according to the preamble, which provides a more flexible mechanism for activating interactive applications with digital programs. The object further comprises code for the computer program to obtain activation parameters from the application information, wherein the activation parameters indicate that the interactive application has at least two different parts and at least one of the two parts is in the program mode. According to the invention in a computer program product, characterized in that it is executed conditionally.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an interactive application associated with a digital program, the interactive application comprising code for detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed, and at least one of the applications according to the program code. It contains at least two parts that contain code for conditionally executing a part.

In the interactive application according to the invention there are at least two parts. When the application is running, each part of the application will be processed according to the program mode, so that the program author can further control the application.

The invention and its advantages are explained using the embodiments and the accompanying schematic drawings.

Corresponding parts in the various figures are indicated by the same reference numerals.

1 is a flow diagram of associating an interactive application with a digital program in accordance with the present invention.

2 schematically depicts an interactive application according to the present invention.

3 schematically shows the most important components of the activation device according to the invention;

4 schematically illustrates a set-top box in accordance with the present invention.

5 schematically shows a television set in accordance with the present invention;

6 is a schematic illustration of a digital video recorder in accordance with the present invention;

1 is a flow diagram of associating an interactive application with a digital program in accordance with the present invention. The interactive application here does not mean that the application is executed by involving the digital program user, but rather that the interactive application can run on its own under certain circumstances. For example, an event, such as a football goal, may trigger an interactive presentation of the player who scored the goal.

The digital program can include an audio portion, a video portion and a data portion. In comparison to interactive applications, the audio, video and data portions are played manually to the user. In the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard, a digital program includes zero or more video sub-streams, namely MPEG Motion Picture Experts Group Packetized Elementary Stream (PES), zero or more audio sub-streams, zero or more data sub-streams and services. May contain information. An extreme example of a digital program is to include only digital program service information.

 In the DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard, an interactive application is a state of modules that is encoded in private parts and multiplexed into a transport stream. Modules making up a carousel will be broadcast repeatedly. In addition, the DVB MHP standard defines an Application Information Table (AIT) in the private section as shown below, which is used to provide relevant information of the application. This AIT table is also broadcasted repeatedly, and the minimum repetition rate in each AIT table is 10 seconds.

Table 1 AIT syntax

There is a field named "application_control_code" listed in the AIT table above, which is used to dynamically control the lifecycle of an interactive application. An interactive application can have four types of different application control codes.

Autostart, the application starts automatically;

Present, the application can be started by the user and cannot be started automatically.

-Destroy, the application is requested to be deleted on its own

Kill, the application is unconditionally deleted

All applications are started and stopped by the application manager and there is an activatable list of applications managed by the application manager.

According to the invention, an application category of 4 application modes is introduced as follows:

Live only, the application is only active when the program is played live.

Storage only, the application is only active when the program is played non-live.

Live & storage, applications are active regardless of how the digital program is running.

Hybrid, the application has at least two different parts, at least one of the at least two parts being conditionally executed according to the program mode, the program mode indicating how the digital program is being executed. Hybrid applications are described below in detail.

Application mode is added as an activation parameter to the interactive application. For example, in the DVB MHP standard, the activation parameter of the application mode is defined as a descriptor in the ATI (see the italic field in Table 1). In an embodiment of the invention, the syntax of the application mode descriptor is defined as shown in Table 2, and the semantics of the application mode values are defined as shown in Table 3.

Table 2 Syntax of Application Mode Descriptors

[Table 3] Meaning of application mode values

The difference between the application mode and the application control code according to the present invention is mainly to determine whether the interactive application is to be activated, i.e. to be sent to the program launchable list depending on the program mode, where application_control_code is listed in the application launchable list. It is controlling the life cycle of the application.

Application modes may have many choices that may use numbers between 4 and 255. In addition, the application mode may be added to one of the other areas in the AIT, for example reserved fields in the AIT, but not in the descriptor.

The activation parameter of the application mode may also be related to the digital program in other ways as long as the application mode can be extracted when the digital program is being played / stored.

The program mode mentioned above has two types, "live played" and "non-live played". The program mode is detected by the source of the digital program. If a program is received from the tuner, it is played live, and if a program is received from a storage medium, it is played non-live.

Detection of the program mode may be accomplished by detecting program characteristics associated with the digital program, where the program characteristics of the program mode indicate how the program is being executed. For example, in the DVB standard, the program characteristic of the program mode may be introduced as a descriptor in a program mapping table (PMT). When a program is being created, the program characteristic of the program mode is set to "play live", and when the program is being broadcast and recorded, the program characteristic of the program mode is set to "play non-live" during the recording process. .

1 illustrates a method of associating an interactive application with a digital program in accordance with the present invention. This process can be completed by one of a variety of current program building tools, such as Coral MHP.

First, a digital program is obtained (step S110). The digital program may include any A / V or data sub-streams and service information as described above.

Second, a request is received to associate the interactive application with the digital program (step S120), and a plurality of settings of the interactive application are received (step S130). One of the settings is an activation parameter, which indicates that the interactive application will be conditionally activated depending on how the digital program is running.

The activation parameter represents one of the application modes defined above. For example, the application mode value of the activation parameter is 2, which means that its application mode is "save only". An interactive application of "save only" is only active when the digital program is played non-live and not when the digital program is played live. An example of this invention is when a receiver receives an "quiz" application in a multimedia distance learning program with an activation parameter "save only". If the program is played live, the receiver will ignore this application if the program is not recording and will send this application for storage instead of showing it to the student if the program is recording. And if the program is played non-live, the receiver will show this application to the student.

Thirdly, an application with the received settings according to the DVB MHP standard is created (step S140), and the application generated by the digital program is associated (step S150). The content of the application is in one or more files in the module, which is finally multiplexed into private parts, and the relevant characteristic information, such as activation parameters, is in the AIT associated with the digital program.

Note that the creation and association process may be accomplished according to other current or future digital program production techniques.

Finally, the digital program is broadcasted (step S160). This may be satellite, terrestrial or cable broadcast.

2 schematically illustrates an interactive application according to the present invention. The interactive application is "hybrid", which indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts. One of the two parts is conditionally executed according to the program mode, whereby the program mode indicates how the digital program is executed. The application mode value of the activation parameter is 3 as described in Table 3 above.

The interactive application 200 has two parts, a first part 230 and a second part 240. The first portion 230 is "live only", which is a portion mode indicating that the program is executed only when it is played live, and the second portion 240 is executed only when the program is played non-live. Has mode "Save only".

An example of a "hybrid" application is a "practice" application in a multimedia distance learning program, which includes 30 exercises, 20 of which are available to students only after the user saves the program, The rest of the exercises are available to students only when the program is played live. That is, the partial mode of the 20 exercises is "save only" and the partial mode of the remaining exercises is "live only". In this situation, during the live play of the program, the student can only access this "live only" part of the application, so that the user can focus on the teacher's description and will not interfere with the teacher's schedule.

A "hybrid" interactive application can have two or more parts and the part mode of each part can be one of the following three types, "live only", "save only" and "live & save", which are described above. It has a similar meaning to the application mode as described, for example, the "live & save" part mode indicates that this part will be executed regardless of how the program is running. One embodiment of a "hybrid" interactive application is that all parts do not have the same part mode. The interactive application 200 includes code 210 for detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed, and code 220 for conditionally executing at least one portion of the application according to the program mode. Also have.

When the interactive application 200 is running on the set top box, the code 210 may obtain program code form from the middleware of the set top box. For example, the program mode is “played non-live” and code 220 determines to execute portion 240 according to the results of executing code 210. The following is an example frame of a hybrid interactive application based on the Java language.

The order of the portions of code shown in FIG. 2 may be reversed as long as code 210 is executed first and code 220 is executed second.

3 schematically shows the most important components of the activation device according to the invention. The activation device 300 has a receiving means 310, a detecting means 320 and an acquiring means 330.

The receiving means 310 is used to receive program information of a digital program and application information about an interactive application. An example is that the receiving means 310 receives an AIT containing the PMT of the digital program containing the program information of the digital program and the application information of the interactive application and the AIT comprises an activation parameter as defined above.

The detecting means 320 is used to detect the program mode of the digital program and the program mode indicates how the digital program is executed. When the receiving unit 310 is receiving program information of the digital program, the detecting means detects the program mode of the digital program. An alternative to this detection is to detect the source of the program, which is played live if the program is from a tuner, and non-live if the program is from a storage medium. Another alternative to such detection as mentioned above is to detect the program characteristics of the program mode associated with the digital program.

The obtaining means 330 obtains an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts, and at least one of the at least two parts is conditionally dependent on the program mode. Is executed.

An example is that the obtaining means 330 extracts the activation parameter from the AIT table received by the receiving means 310 and processes this application according to the program code detected by the detecting means 320. Describe some situations as follows:

One situation is that the activation parameter acquired by the acquisition means 330 is "save only" and the program mode detected by the detection means 320 is "non-live". The interactive application is then activated, where it is sent to the application launchable list.

Another situation is that the activation parameter obtained by the acquisition means 330 is "save only" and the program mode detected by the detection means 320 is "played live". The interactive application is then sent to the storage medium if the program is recording, or the interactive application is ignored.

Another situation is that the activation parameter obtained by the obtaining means 330 is "hybrid". The interactive application is then activated, which means it is sent to the application launchable list. The activation parameter "hybrid" indicates that the interactive application has at least two parts with different partial modes. When the "hybrid" application on the application launchable list is running, the other parts are executed according to the program mode detected by the detecting means 320. If the program mode is "play live", the part (s) "live only" will be executed. If the program mode is "non-live play", the part (s) of "save only" will be executed.

An example of such a situation is an application of "practice" in a multimedia distance learning program, which includes 30 exercises, 20 of which are available to students only after the user saves the program, and the remaining exercises in this application. They can only be used by students when the program is played live. That is, the partial mode of 20 exercises is "Save only" and the partial mode of the remaining exercises is "Live only". In this situation, during the live play of the program, the student can only access this "live only" part of the application, so this user can focus on the teacher's description and will not disturb the teacher's schedule.

Note that there may be more situations not illustrated above. Note that not all interactive applications on the application launch list are run automatically and they are still determined by application_control_code.

The invention can be implemented by a suitably programmed computer having a computer program for activating an interactive application associated with a digital program. A computer program product for activating an interactive application associated with a digital program is used to detect program information of a digital program and code for receiving application information about the interactive application, and a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is running. And code for obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts, wherein at least one of the at least two parts is conditional according to the program mode. Executed as a talisman. Such computer program product may be stored in a storage carrier.

These portions of the program code may be provided to the processor to create a machine such that code running on the processor generates means for implementing the specified functions as above.

Figure 4 schematically shows another set-top box in the invention. The set top box 400 includes a receiver 410 that receives a digital program and an interactive application associated with the digital program. Digital programs and interactive applications can be transmitted to the set-top box in one of a variety of ways, such as by cable, terrestrial or satellite broadcasting. Received digital programs and interactive applications are processed in a set top box with a processing unit 420 and then exported for display or recording. The set top box 400 also includes an activation device 300 as described above. The activation device detects the program mode of the digital program received by the receiver 410, obtains activation parameters from the application information of the interactive application received by the receiver 410, and the activation device then conditions the interactive application. The processing unit 420 is controlled to schedule negatively. If the activation parameter is hybrid, at least one of the portions of the interactive application is conditionally executed according to the program mode.

5 schematically shows a television set according to the invention. Television set 500 includes a receiver 510 for receiving a digital program and an interactive application associated with the digital program. Digital programs and interactive applications may be transmitted to the television set 500 in one of a variety of ways, such as by cable, terrestrial, or satellite broadcasting. The received digital program and interactive application are processed in the television set by the processing unit 520 to be displayed on the presentation unit 530, for example, the CRT. Television set 500 also includes an activation device 300 as described above. The activation device 300 detects the program mode of the digital program received by the receiver 510, obtains activation parameters from the application information of the interactive application received by the receiver 510, and then the activation device receives the interactive application. The processing unit 520 is controlled to conditionally schedule the. If the activation parameter is hybrid, at least one of the portions of the interactive application is conditionally executed according to the program mode.

6 schematically shows a digital recorder according to the invention. The digital recorder 600 includes a receiver 610 for receiving a digital program and an interactive application associated with the digital program. The digital program and the interactive application may be transmitted to the digital recorder 600 by one of various methods, such as cable broadcasting, terrestrial broadcasting, or satellite broadcasting. The digital recorder 600 has a storage unit 620 for storing digital programs and interactive applications on the storage medium 630. The storage medium 630 may be a hard disk or other suitable media such as CD-RW.

The digital recorder 600 optionally includes an acquisition means 650 that can extract activation parameters of the interactive application. If the interactive application is stored in the mode of files, the interactive application with the "live only" activation parameter is blocked from storing, so that the acquiring means 650 can conditionally store the interactive application by this blocking. To control the storage unit 620. If the interactive application is stored in the mode of the transport stream, there is no need for acquiring means 650. Acquisition means 650 has the same function as acquisition means 330 as described above.

The digital recorder 600 also has a retrieving unit 640 for retrieving a digital program associated with the interactive application from the storage medium 630. The digital recorder 600 also includes an activation device 300 as described above. The activation device 300 detects the program mode of the digital program retrieved by the retrieving unit 640, obtains an activation parameter from the application information of the interactive application retrieved by the retrieving unit 640, and then activates the activation device. Controls the retrieving unit 640 to conditionally schedule the interactive application. If the activation parameter is hybrid, at least one of the portions of the interactive application is conditionally executed according to the program mode.

It is noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are illustrative rather than limiting of the invention and those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word 'comprises' does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. Singular expression (a or an) elements do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the device claims enumerating several means, several of these means may be realized in one and the same item of hardware.

Claims (19)

Receiving the plurality of settings of an interactive application, generating the interactive application with the settings, and associating the generated interactive application with a digital program. In the method of associating with a program, One of the settings is an activation parameter indicating that the interactive application is activated only when the digital program is non-live played. . Receiving the plurality of settings of an interactive application, generating the interactive application with the settings, and associating the generated interactive application with a digital program. In the method of associating with a program, One of the settings is an activation parameter indicating that the interactive application has at least two different parts, one of the at least two parts being conditionally executed in accordance with a program mode, wherein the program mode is A method of associating an interactive application with a digital program that indicates how the digital program is run. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the at least two portions is executed only when the program is played non-live. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the at least two portions is executed only when the program is played live. The method of claim 2, wherein the digital program is a digital TV program conforming to a digital video broadcast standard. Receiving program information of a digital program and application information relating to an interactive application, and detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed; In a method for activating an application, And obtaining an activation parameter from the application information indicating that the application is activated only when the program is played non-live. Receiving program information of a digital program and application information relating to an interactive application, and detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed; In a method for activating an application, Obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts, wherein at least one of the at least two parts is conditional according to the program mode A method that activates an interactive application associated with a digital program that is executed negatively. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the program mode is that the digital program is played live. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the program mode is that the digital program is played non-live. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the at least two portions is executed only when the digital program is played live. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the at least two portions is executed only when the digital program is played non-live. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the digital program is a digital TV program conforming to a digital video broadcast standard. Conversation means associated with the digital program, including receiving means for receiving program information of the digital program and application information relating to an interactive application, and detection means for detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed. An activation device for activating a type application, Obtaining means for obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts, at least one of the at least two parts depending on the program mode Conditionally executed, wherein the activation device activates an interactive application associated with the digital program. A set top box comprising a receiver for receiving a digital program associated with an interactive application and for activating said interactive application associated with said digital program, The set top box further comprising an activation device for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13. A television set comprising a receiver for receiving a digital program associated with an interactive application, and a display for displaying the digital program, the television set for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program, comprising: A television set, further comprising an activation device for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13. A receiver for receiving a digital program associated with an interactive application, Storage means for storing the digital program and conditionally storing the interactive application; A digital recorder for storing said digital program comprising retrieving means for retrieving said digital program associated with said interactive application from said storage medium and for activating said interactive application associated with said digital program. 14. The digital recorder of claim 13, further comprising an activation device for activating the interactive application associated with the digital program as claimed in claim 13. Code for receiving program information of a digital program and application information about an interactive application, and code for detecting a program mode of the digital program indicating how the digital program is executed. In a computer program product for activating an application, Code for obtaining an activation parameter from the application information, wherein the activation parameter indicates that the interactive application has at least two different parts, wherein at least one of the at least two parts is the program mode. Computer program product, conditionally executed in accordance with. A storage carrier incorporating a computer program product as claimed in claim 17. In an interactive application associated with a digital program, Code for detecting a program mode of the digital program, and And at least two portions comprising code for conditionally executing at least one portion of the application in accordance with the program code.

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