System and method for delivering web content over a broadcast medium

A system for delivering Web content over a broadcast medium, comprising:

• a webcast center to actively gather Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the sites and fetching content from the sites, the webcast center storing the gathered Web content, the webcast center having a broadcast transmitter to transmit the gathered Web content over the broadcast medium;
• multiple clients equipped with filters to receive a portion of the gathered Web content from one or more selected sites;
• and
• wherein:
• the broadcast transmitter at the webcast center transmits the Web content in individual packages;
• and
• each client has an unpackager to reconstruct the Web content from the packages, the unpackager being configured to determine whether the Web content received from the webcast center is more recent than any Web content from an identical site that may already be stored on the client.

A system for delivering Web content over a broadcast medium, comprising:

• a webcast center to actively gather Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the sites and fetching content from the sites, the webcast center storing the gathered Web content, the webcast center having a broadcast transmitter to transmit the gathered Web content over the broadcast medium;
• multiple clients equipped with filters to receive a portion of the gathered Web content from one or more selected sites;
• and
• wherein each client has an annotator configured to annotate hyperlinks within the Web content to differentiate among first hyperlinks that access content not stored locally at the client and second hyperlinks that access content stored locally at the client.

A webcast center comprising:

• a gatherer to actively gather Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the sites and fetching content from the sites;
• a content cache to store the Web content actively gathered from the sites by the gatherer;
• a packager to package the Web content stored in the content cache into broadcast package files;
• a package store to store the broadcast package files prior to broadcast transmission;
• a broadcast transmitter to segment the package files from the package store into individual packages and transmit the packages over a broadcast medium;
• and
• wherein:
• the gatherer retrieves the Web content from the sites and stores the Web content in the content cache at a first data rate;
• and
• the broadcast transmitter transmits the packages from the package store at a second data rate different from the first data rate.

For use in a system for delivering Web content in individual data packages over a broadcast medium to multiple clients, a package handling unit at each of the clients comprising:

• a receiver to reconstruct package files from the data packages;
• a package store to temporarily hold the package files containing the Web content;
• and
• an unpackager to reconstruct the Web content from the package files, the unpackager being configured to determine whether the Web content received in the package files from the broadcast medium is more recent than any duplicative Web content that may already be stored at the client as a result of the client retrieving the duplicative Web content from a same Web site from which the Web content in the package files came.

A system for delivering Web content over a broadcast medium, comprising:

• (A) a webcast center comprising:
• (1) a gatherer to actively gather Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the sites to retrieve the Web content;
• (2) a scheduler to schedule for the gatherer the sites and times to actively gather the Web content;
• (3) a content cache to store the Web content gathered from the sites by the gatherer;
• (4) a packager to package the Web content stored in the content cache into broadcast package files;
• (5) a package store to store the broadcast package files;
• and
• (6) a broadcast transmitter to segment the package files from the package store into individual packages and transmit the packages over a broadcast medium;
• (B) a client comprising:
• (1) a receiver to receive the broadcast packages;
• (2) a subscription database to store a directory of the Web content gathered by the webcast center;
• (3) a subscriber user interface executing at the client to enable a user to select preferred Web content from the directory of the subscription database;
• (4) a filter to direct the receiver to accept the packages carrying the preferred Web content selected by the user, while rejecting other packages carrying non-preferred Web content, and to reconstruct the package files from the accepted packages;
• (5) a client-side package store to temporarily hold the package files received by the receiver;
• and
• (6) an unpackager to determine whether the Web content in the package files received from the broadcast medium is more recent than any other version of the Web content that may already be stored at the client.

A method for delivering Web content to clients, comprising:

• actively gathering the Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the site to retrieve the Web content;
• storing the Web content in a first cache;
• packaging the Web content from the first cache into package files;
• storing the package files in a second cache;
• broadcasting the package files from the second cache over the broadcast medium;
• and
• receiving the package files at a client;
• filtering the package files to retain files containing the Web content preferred by a user;
• reconstructing the preferred Web content from the retained package files;
• and
• annotating hyperlinks within the Web content to differentiate among first hyperlinks that access content not stored locally at the client and second hyperlinks that access content stored locally at the client.

In a system for delivering Web content over a broadcast medium from a webcast center to multiple clients, a computer-implemented method for cumulating Web content at the webcast center comprising instructions for:

• gathering the Web content from sites on the Internet by visiting the site to retrieve the Web content;
• storing the Web content in a first cache;
• packaging the Web content from the first cache into package files;
• storing the package files at a second cache;
• gathering the Web content from the sites;
• and
• storing the Web content in the content cache at a first data rate that is different from and independent of a second data rate at which the packages from the package store are transmitted over the broadcast medium.