TV recording and viewing control system
First Claim
1. A method of controlling a video appliance comprising the steps of:
- receiving a first signal representative of a television program schedule, a second signal indicating which television program is currently being received and a third signal indicating the class of program being received;
converting said first signal into a display of text representative of said television program schedule;
nominating a subset of items of said displayed text as items to be permitted andselecting a set of classifications which are to be prohibited; and
, if said second signal indicates that a television program currently being received corresponds to one of said items to be permitted;
activating a video appliance;
comparing said third signal to said set of prohibited classifications, and, if said classification signal indicates that a received program is a member of the set of prohibited classifications;
causing the video appliance to be temporarily deactivated until said classification signal indicates that a received program is no longer a member of the set of prohibited classifications.
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Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A signal representative of a television program guide, a signal indicating which program is currently being viewed or recorded and a signal indicating the class of program being viewed or recorded are received at the point of reception of a television program signal. The program guide signal is used to cause a program guide to be displayed on a television screen. A viewer selects one or more programs to be recorded or viewed from the displayed guide and selects a set of classifications that are to be permitted. While the received program indicating signal indicates that the current program is one of the selected programs and the received classifying signal indicates that the current program is of a permitted classification, recording or viewing of the program is enabled. A further extension of the invention causes the program identifying signal to be recorded on a video recording along with the program so that on replay the recording can visually be identified.
1056 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of controlling a video appliance comprising the steps of:
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receiving a first signal representative of a television program schedule, a second signal indicating which television program is currently being received and a third signal indicating the class of program being received; converting said first signal into a display of text representative of said television program schedule; nominating a subset of items of said displayed text as items to be permitted and selecting a set of classifications which are to be prohibited; and
, if said second signal indicates that a television program currently being received corresponds to one of said items to be permitted;activating a video appliance; comparing said third signal to said set of prohibited classifications, and, if said classification signal indicates that a received program is a member of the set of prohibited classifications; causing the video appliance to be temporarily deactivated until said classification signal indicates that a received program is no longer a member of the set of prohibited classifications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of labelling a video program comprising the steps of:
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receiving identifying signals representative of the names of a plurality of television programs currently available for reception and signals indicating the channel on which each said program can be received; receiving a television program signal using a television receiver; determining the channel to which said television receiver is tuned; and
on command from a user;processing said identifying signals to find the name of the television program currently available for reception that is associated with said determined channel; forming a signal which when applied to a display means causes text corresponding to said found name to be visible; and displaying said name upon said display means. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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8. A method of labelling a video program recording comprising the steps of:
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receiving identifying signals representative of the names of a plurality of television programs currently available for reception and signals indicating the channel on which each said program can be received; receiving a television program signal using a television receiver; determining the channel to which said television receiver is tuned; processing said identifying signals to find the name of the television program currently available for reception that is associated with said determined channel; forming a name signal representative of said found name; simultaneously recording said program signal and said name signal and subsequently simultaneously replaying said signals; and
, on command from a user;forming a signal which when applied to a display means causes text corresponding to said found name to be visible; and displaying said found name upon said display means.
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10. A video appliance controller comprising:
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means for receiving a first signal representative of a television program schedule, a second signal indicating which television program is currently being received and a third signal indicating the class of program being received; means for converting said first signal into a display of text representative of a television program schedule; first memory means for storing data specifying a subset of items of said displayed text as items to be permitted; second memory means for storing data specifying a set of classifications which are to be prohibited; means for altering the content of said first and second memory means; and controller means adapted to cause a video appliance to be activated if said second signal indicates that a television program currently being received corresponds to one of said items to be permitted as indicated by the content of said first memory means and to cause a video appliance to be temporarily deactivated if said third signal indicates that a received program is a member of the set of prohibited classifications as indicated by the content of said second memory means. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A television receiver comprising:
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a television program signal receiver; means for determining the channel to which said receiver is tuned; means for receiving identifying signals representative of the names of a plurality of television programs currently available for reception and the channel on which each said program can be received; means for processing said identifying signals to find the name of the television program currently available for reception that is associated with said determined channel; and display means adapted to display said found name on command from a user. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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19. A video program recorder comprising:
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a television program signal receiver; means for determining the channel to which said receiver is tuned; means for receiving identifying signals representative of the names of a plurality of television programs currently available for reception and the channel on which each said program can be received; means for processing said identifying signals to find the name of the television program currently available for reception that is associated with said determined channel; means for forming a name signal representative of said found name; means for simultaneously recording said program signal and said name signal and subsequently simultaneously replaying said signals; and
display means responsive to said replayed name signal and adapted to display said name on command from a user.
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21. A video program recorder comprising:
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a television program signal receiver; means for determining the channel to which said receiver is tuned; means for receiving identifying signals representative of the names of a plurality of television programs currently available for reception and the channel on which each said program can be received; means for processing said identifying signals to find the name of the television program currently available for reception that is associated with said determined channel; means for forming a name signal representative of said found name; means for printing text corresponding to said found name.
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Specification