System for providing transmitter-controlled actuation of equipment at the receiving end of a communications system

• US 4,864,429 A
• Filed: 04/06/1987
• Issued: 09/05/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1985
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Deutsche Thomson-Brandt GmbH D-7730 Villingen-Schwennigen West Germany
• Original Assignee: Deutsche Thomson-Brandt Gmbh (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Laskus, Rolf, Eigeldinger, Norbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Buczinski, Stephen C.
• Application Number:
  US07/047,437
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 380/4 PS, 380/20, 358/349, 455/4
• US Class Current: 725/151
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0887 for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals

Abstract

A system for providing transmitter-controlled actuation of equipment at the receiving end of a communications system by using an identification signal transmitted for the entire duration of a broadcast and characterizing this broadcast. If the equipment has not been started by the identification signal and if the device is actuated at the beginning or during the broadcast, the further operation of the equipment in a predetermined operating mode is controlled using the identification signal. The equipment at the receiving end may be a broadcast receiver, particiularly a television or radio receiver, or an audio or video recorder. In a particular embodiment, the identification signal is stored when a record or "quick start" key of a VCR is manually actuated, and recording continues until the current identification signal is no longer the same as the stored signal.

Claims

1. A device for providing transmitter-controlled actuation of equipment at the receiving end of a communications system in which an identification signal is employed to characterize a broadcast, comprising:

first means, at the receiving end, for starting the equipment without relying on the identification signal, and

second means, at the receiving end and operable when the equipment has been started by the first means, for controlling the further operation of the equipment in a predetermined operating mode by using the identification signal, the second means including

a memory,

third means for initially storing only initially received data corresponding to at least a portion of the identification signal in the memory when the equipment is started by the first means, and

fourth means for comparing the stored data with the corresponding data of a subsequently received identification signal and, for the entire time that the stored data coincides with the corresponding data in the subsequently received identification signal, causing the equipment to be operated in the predetermined operating mode.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the fourth means comprises means for keeping the equipment at the receiving end in the predetermined operating mode only as long as the stored data coincide with the corresponding data of the subsequently received identification signal.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the third means comprises at least one switch which is actuated when the equipment is started by the first means.

4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the equipment at the receiving end is a recording device, and wherein the predetermined mode of operation is the recording mode.

5. A device according to claim 4, wherein the first means comprises a key for quickly initiating the recording mode.

6. A device according to claim 1, wherein the equipment at the receiving end comprises means for receiving a broadcast signal.

7. A device according to claim 6, wherein the signal is a television signal.

8. A device according to claim 4, wherein the recording device is a VCR.

9. A circuit for controlling an entertainment apparatus which is responsive to a received signal having a sequence of program segments, the receives signal including an identification signal portion which characterizes each program segment as long as the respective program segment lasts and which changes when one program segment is followed by the next program segment, the entertainment apparatus having first and second states and having manually operable control means for shifting the entertainment apparatus from the first state to the second state, said circuit comprising:

first means for initially storing at least part of the identification signal portion of only the initially received signal when the control means is manually operated to shift the entertainment apparatus from the first state to the second state; and

second means for comparing the at least part of the identification signal portion stored in the first means with a corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of a subsequently received signal, and for returning the entertainment apparatus to the first state when a program segment ends.

10. The circuit of claim 9, wherein the first name comprises a memory, a switch which is actuated when the control means is manually operated, and means for storing at least part of the identification signal portion of the received signal in the memory when the switch is actuated.

11. The circuit of claim 10, wherein the second means comprises a comparator having an input port which receives the contents of the memory and another input port which receives the corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of the subsequently received signal.

12. The circuit of claim 9, wherein the second means comprises a comparator having an input port which receives the at least part of the identification signal portion stored in the first means and another input port which receives the corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of the subsequently received signal.

13. The circuit of claim 9, wherein the entertainment apparatus comprises means for recording information carried by the received signal.

14. The circuit of claim 13, wherein the received signal is a video signal and the means for recording is a VCR.

15. A circuit for controlling an apparatus for recording information carried by a received signal having a sequence of program segments, the received signal including an identification signal portion which characterizes each program segment as long as the respective program segment lasts and which changes when one program segment is followed by the next program segment, the apparatus having a recording mode and a non-recording mode and having a record key which is manually operable to shift the apparatus from the nonrecording mode to the recording mode, comprising:

first means for storing at least part of the identification signal portion of only the initially received signal when the record key is manually operated to shift the apparatus from the non-recording mode to the recording mode; and

second means for comparing the at least part of the identification signal portion stored in the first means with a corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of the received signal, and for returning the apparatus to the non-recording mode when a program segment ends.

16. The circuit of claim 15, wherein the first means comprises a memory, a switch which is actuated when the record key is manually operated, and means for storing at least part of the identification signal portion of the received signal in the memory when the switch is actuated.

17. The circuit of claim 16 wherein the second means comprises a comparator having an input port which receives the contents of the memory and another input port which receives the corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of the subsequently received signal.

18. The circuit of claim 15, wherein the second means comprises a comparator having an input port which receives the at least part of the identification signal portion stored in the first means and another input port which receives the corresponding at least part of the identification signal portion of the subsequently received signal.

19. The circuit of claim 15, wherein the received signal is a video signal and the apparatus for recording information is a VCR.