A client-side intelligent device having background caching of web pages
within a digital television (DTV) system and method of same. The present
invention includes a digital television system having an intelligent
device for interfacing with a user/viewer and controlling the display of
information on a display screen. The intelligent device, in one
embodiment, is a set-top-box, but could be any intelligent electronic
device or computer system. The set-top-box is configured to receive a DTV
signal (e.g., land based cable or digital satellite system) that includes
audio/visual information as well as data signals in a datacast format. The
datacast format includes web pages, e.g., in the HTML (hypertext markup
language) format of the world wide web. The DTV broadcasters support
multiple channels of information on which content providers can supply a
domain of web pages on a periodic basis. The present invention is able to
display viewer-selected web pages on the DTV system. An intelligent filter
is used that modifies itself based on user behavior and user preferences
in terms of the web pages that a viewer routinely visits. The intelligent
filter is then used to identify certain web pages of the pages that are
being broadcast and these identified web pages are stored in a cache
memory for later use by the viewer. A second tuner can be used to poll
multiple channels when updating the cached contents. Cached web pages
avoid broadcast latencies (due to periodic updating) and thereby are
displayed faster to the viewer.