SYSTEM AND METHOD TO CONTROL AND DISTRIBUTE PROCESSING AND MEMORY RESOURCES AMONG APPLICATIONS IN A TELEVISION TERMINAL

摘要

A television converter system (16) comprises a receiver (94) for receiving a transmission signal from a transmission signal source. A processor (24) in the converter is capable of executing a plurality of independently executable application programs. A first one of the plurality of programs has a focused execution state. The remaining one or more application programs have a defocused execution state. The processor generates an application program output signal from the application program that currently has the focused execution state. An output provides either the transmission signal or the application program output signal for display on a television display. An input is received, requesting a transfer of focus from the first one of the plurality of programs to a second one of the plurality of application programs. The focus is transferred from the first application program to the second one of the plurality of programs for display on the television display.