Apparatus for and method of executing customized interactive computing services in a broadband network environment

A system for interactive television content distribution using customer premises equipment having a capability to internally generate, format and display graphics, the system comprising:

• a server connected to a broadband network;
• a plurality of local user devices for customizable two-way interaction with said server over said broadband network, each of said plurality of local user devices being connectable to a television display respectively and being adapted to cause said television display to show content broadcast over said broadband network to each of said plurality of local user devices respectively, each of said plurality of local user devices including a data structure representing a software application which, when executed, enables each of said plurality of local user devices to interface with said broadband network to provide, respectively, at least one customizable interactive computer service in response to a user request, each of the plurality of local user devices configured to be able to internally generate, format and display graphics elements reflecting said at least one customizable interactive computer service respectively, wherein internally formatting graphics elements comprises:
• managing the graphical elements to provide one or more levels of transparency, user-customizable regions and scrolling functionality, and wherein said plurality of local user devices are capable of performing substantially all computational tasks required to implement said at least one customizable interactive computer service, and wherein the software application of each said plurality of local user devices is adapted to be personalized by a user respectively;
• and
• a remote support server connected to the broadband network, wherein the remote support server is configured to provide support services to augment capabilities of said plurality of local user devices, to provide remote persistent storage services for said plurality of local user devices, and to store preference data for respective users of said plurality of local user devices.