Pay per view television control device
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for providing access to an electrically controlled service for predetermined periods of time comprising:
- a record medium adapted to have encoded thereon data indicative of a definite time period during which access to said service is to be permitted,a reader adapted to receive said record medium and store the data encoded thereon,said reader including a sensor for sensing the presence of said card therein and a housing having two closely spaced parallel plates and a plurality of posts disposed between said parallel plates to form a channel for slidably receiving said medium and guiding said record medium toward said sensor while preventing skewing thereof,a processor including a clock network having an output signal indicative of instantaneous time,a comparator for comparing the data stored in said reader with said clock output signal, anda security control device operable in at least two states, one of said states permitting access to said service and the other of said states preventing access to said service, said security device being responsive to said comparator for permitting and preventing access to said service as a function of the data encoded on said record medium.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing access to an electrically controlled service for perdetermined periods of time employs a dual magnetically striped record medium encoded in a CRB format with data indicative of the periods of time during which access is to be provided. The data is read by a reader and stored in a processor having an internal clock and a comparator for comparing the instantaneous time output of the clock with the predetermined time period data encoded on the record medium for enabling a security device only when the instantaneous time is within the predetermined time period.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. Apparatus for providing access to an electrically controlled service for predetermined periods of time comprising:
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a record medium adapted to have encoded thereon data indicative of a definite time period during which access to said service is to be permitted, a reader adapted to receive said record medium and store the data encoded thereon, said reader including a sensor for sensing the presence of said card therein and a housing having two closely spaced parallel plates and a plurality of posts disposed between said parallel plates to form a channel for slidably receiving said medium and guiding said record medium toward said sensor while preventing skewing thereof, a processor including a clock network having an output signal indicative of instantaneous time, a comparator for comparing the data stored in said reader with said clock output signal, and a security control device operable in at least two states, one of said states permitting access to said service and the other of said states preventing access to said service, said security device being responsive to said comparator for permitting and preventing access to said service as a function of the data encoded on said record medium. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In apparatus for providing access to an electricontrolled service for predetermined periods of time having a record medium adapted to be encoded with data indicative of a definite time period during which access to said service is to be permitted, a processor for controlling access to the service in response to the data on said card and a security device responsive to said processor, the improvement which comprises a card reader including
a top plate, a bottom plate disposed in parallel spaced relationship to said top plate, a plurality of spacer members connected to said top and bottom plates, the area bounded by said top and bottom plates and two of said spacer members being substantially congruent to the cross-section of said record medium for slidably receiving said record medium while preventing skewing thereof, and a plurality of magnetically responsive sensors disposed adjacent said channel for sensing signals corresponding to the data encoded on said record medium.
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13. A method of providing access to an electrically controlled service for a predetermined period of time comprising encoding a record medium with data indicative of a predetermined period of time with a CRB encoding format, reading said data indicative of the predetermined period of time encoded on said record medium with a CRB decoder,
comparing the data indicative of the predetermined period of time with data indicative of present instantaneous time, and enabling the security device to permit access to the electrically controlled service only when said present instantaneous time is within said predetermined period of time.
Specification