ACCESS TO INTERNET DATA THROUGH A TELEVISION SYSTEM
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An interactive entertainment network system comprising:
- a television signal provider for supplying a plurality of television signals, at least one of the television signals comprising a television program and embedded data including a particular data address site including data related to the television program, a data service provider for retrieving and transmitting data corresponding to data address sites; and
a plurality of user interface units in individual homes, each user interface unit comprising a tuner for receiving the at least one television signal from the television signal provider, means for extracting the data address site from the television signal, a memory for storing the data address site, a modern in two-way communication with the data service provider, a display screen for displaying the television program, a user input for receiving a user selection, and a microcontroller coupled to the memory and the modem and comprising means for generating an identifier representative of the data address site and superimposing the identifier over the television program on the display device, means for retrieving the data address site from the memory in response to a user selection, and means for controlling the modem to retrieve data corresponding to the data address site from the data service provider in response to the user selection and configuring said data for display.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An interactive television system in which a URL representing an Internet web site is encoded in a television signal. The user may link to the web site by selecting an icon (95) displayed on the television screen.
-
Citations
32 Claims
-
1. An interactive entertainment network system comprising:
-
a television signal provider for supplying a plurality of television signals, at least one of the television signals comprising a television program and embedded data including a particular data address site including data related to the television program, a data service provider for retrieving and transmitting data corresponding to data address sites; and
a plurality of user interface units in individual homes, each user interface unit comprising a tuner for receiving the at least one television signal from the television signal provider, means for extracting the data address site from the television signal, a memory for storing the data address site, a modern in two-way communication with the data service provider, a display screen for displaying the television program, a user input for receiving a user selection, and a microcontroller coupled to the memory and the modem and comprising means for generating an identifier representative of the data address site and superimposing the identifier over the television program on the display device, means for retrieving the data address site from the memory in response to a user selection, and means for controlling the modem to retrieve data corresponding to the data address site from the data service provider in response to the user selection and configuring said data for display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A display controller for coupling to a display device and to a data retrieval terminal in two-way communication with a data service provider, the display controller comprising:
-
a tuner for receiving a television signal containing a television program and at least one embedded data unit comprising a data address site including data related to the television program;
means for extracting the at least one embedded data unit from the television signal;
a memory for storing the at least one data unit, a video display generator;
a microcontroller coupled to the tuner and the extracting means and the memory (a) for storing the at least one data unit in the memory, (b) for controlling the video display generator to display information representative of the data site address on the display device simultaneously with the television program, (c) for selectively retrieving the data site address from the memory in response to a user request, (d) for controlling the data retrieval terminal to request data corresponding to the user selected data address site from the data service provider, and (e) for controlling the video display generator to format and display the requested data received from the data service provider on the display device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
19. A method for enhancing viewing of a television program with interactive information retrieval comprising the steps of:
-
a television signal provider, (a) embedding at least one data unit comprising a data address site into a television signal containing a television program, wherein the data address site includes data related to the television program;
at a user site, (b) receiving the television signal;
(c) extracting the at least one data unit from the television signal;
(d) displaying information representative of the data address site simultaneously with the television program on a display device;
(e) storing the data address site in a memory;
(f) selecting the information representative of the data address site;
(g) establishing e connection with a data service provider having access to data corresponding to the selected data address site;
(h) requesting the data corresponding to the data address site;
(i) transmitting the data corresponding to the data address site from the data service provider to the user site; and
(j) formatting and displaying the data corresponding to the data address site on the display device.
-
Specification