Interactive subscription television terminal

• US 5,754,940 A
• Filed: 06/27/1994
• Issued: 05/19/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Lee R., Smith, Elizabeth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miller, John W.
• Application Number:
  US08/265,941
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: 348/6, 348/7, 348/8, 348/10, 348/12, 348/13, 348/460, 348/461, 348/465, 348/467, 348/469, 348/473, 348/474, 348/476-479, 348/563, 348/564, 348/569, 348/570, 455/3.1, 455/4.1, 455/4.2, 455/5.1, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 395/200.09
• US Class Current: 725/100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/085 the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0888 Subscription systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system for providing interactive services in a subscription television system includes a system controller for controlling the interactive services, a video signal source for transmitting a video signal and a subscriber terminal for receiving a downstream transaction from the system controller and the video signal. The system controller comprises a memory for storing subscriber terminal address data and transaction data, a processor for generating a downstream transaction including subscriber terminal address data and transaction data, a transmitter for transmitting the downstream transaction, and a receiver for receiving an upstream transaction. The subscriber terminal includes memory for storing the downstream transaction, an on screen display generator for overlaying data in place of or superimposed on the video signal, data input circuitry for generating upstream data, and an upstream transmitter for transmitting the upstream data to the system controller. The downstream transaction may include screen data which defines at least one screen to be overlaid in place of or superimposed on the video signal.

Claims

1. System apparatus for providing interactive services in a subscription television system comprising,

a system controller for controlling the interactive services, said system controller comprising:

controller memory for storing subscriber terminal address data and transaction data,

a processor, coupled to said controller memory, for generating a downstream transaction having subscriber terminal address data and transaction data,

a first transmitter, coupled to said processor, for transmitting the downstream transaction, and

a first receiver for receiving upstream data,

a video signal source for transmitting a video signal, and

a terminal apparatus, coupled to said first transmitter and said video signal source, for receiving the downstream transaction and the video signal, said terminal apparatus comprising;

terminal memory for storing the transaction data associated with the downstream transaction received by said terminal apparatus,

an on screen display generator for overlaying data in place of or superimposed on the video signal received by said terminal apparatus,

a terminal controller, coupled to said terminal memory and said on screen display generator, for controlling said on screen display generator according to the transaction data stored in said terminal memory,

data input circuitry, coupled to said terminal controller, for generating the upstream data, and

an upstream transmitter for transmitting the upstream data to said first receiver of said system controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said system controller is part of a hotel subscription television system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said system controller is part of a headend of a cable subscription television system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said first transmitter transmits the downstream transaction on a separate carrier outside a band of television channels utilized by said subscription television system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said separate carrier is at 108 MHz.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said first transmitter transmits the downstream transaction within a particular television channel utilized by said subscription television system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said first transmitter transmits the downstream transaction within one of a vertical and a horizontal blanking intervals of the particular television channel.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data on a separate carrier outside a band of television channels utilized by said subscription television system.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the separate carrier is at 25 MHz.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data over a separate telephone line.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data utilizing spread spectrum transmission techniques.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor of said system manager generates a second downstream transaction according to the upstream data received by said first receiver.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction data of the downstream transaction comprises screen data which defines at least one screen to be overlaid in place of or superimposed on the video signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a screen number which uniquely identifies the particular screen defined by the downstream transaction.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a priority number for use in determining whether to overwrite the screen data.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a cannibal bit which aids in swapping screen data in and out of said terminal memory.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a type field which indicates a screen type.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a channel number indicating a channel of background video or audio associated with the at least one screen.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes an audio field for indicating whether background audio is to be used.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a feature number identifying a feature scenario.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a time out field for specifying a maximum viewing time of the at least one screen.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein said data input circuitry of said terminal apparatus comprises a keypad having a plurality of keys, and the screen data includes a key template map for associating a particular key of said keypad with a particular operation to be performed by said terminal controller.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen data includes a text field which contains actual characters to be overlaid in place of or superimposed on the video signal.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the screen display data includes an attribute field for defining a screen display characteristic.

25. In a subscription television system for providing interactive services including a first transmitter for transmitting a downstream transaction having subscriber terminal address data and transaction data, a first receiver for receiving upstream data and a video signal source for transmitting a video signal, a subscriber terminal apparatus coupled to said first transmitter and said video signal source comprising:

a second receiver for receiving the video signal transmitted by said video signal source and the downstream transaction transmitted by said first transmitter;

memory for storing the transaction data associated with the downstream transaction received by said second receiver;

an on screen display generator for overlaying data in place of or superimposed on the video signal received by said second receiver;

a controller, coupled to said memory and said on screen display generator, for controlling said on screen display generator according to the transaction data stored in said memory;

data input circuitry, coupled to said controller, for generating upstream data; and

an upstream transmitter for transmitting the upstream data to said first receiver.

26. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said controller comprises a processor and gate array logic.

27. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said subscriber terminal apparatus is part of a hotel subscription television system.

28. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said subscriber terminal apparatus is part of a cable subscription television system.

29. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said second receiver receives the downstream transaction on a separate carrier outside a band of television channels utilized by said subscription television system.

30. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 29, wherein said separate carrier is at 108 MHz.

31. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said second receiver receives the downstream transaction within a particular television channel utilized by said subscription television system.

32. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 31, wherein said second receiver receives the downstream transaction within one of a vertical and a horizontal blanking intervals of the particular television channel.

33. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data on a separate carrier outside a band of television channels utilized by said subscription television system.

34. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 33, wherein the separate carrier is at 25 MHz.

35. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data over a separate telephone line.

36. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein said upstream transmitter transmits the upstream data utilizing spread spectrum transmission techniques.

37. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 25, wherein the transaction data of the downstream transaction comprises screen data which defines at least one screen to be overlaid in place of or superimposed on the video signal.

38. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a screen number which uniquely identifies a particular screen defined by the downstream transaction.

39. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a priority number for use in determining whether to overwrite the screen data.

40. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a cannibal bit which aids in swapping screen data in and out of said terminal memory.

41. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a type field which indicates a screen type.

42. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a channel number indicating a channel of background video or audio associated with the at least one screen.

43. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes an audio field for indicating whether background audio is to be used.

44. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a feature number identifying a feature scenario.

45. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a time out field for specifying a maximum viewing time of the at least one screen.

46. The subscriber terminal apparatus of claim 37, wherein said data input circuitry comprises a keypad having a plurality of keys, and the screen data includes a key template map for associating a particular key of said keypad with a particular operation to be performed by said terminal controller.

47. The subscriber terminal of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes a text field which contains actual characters to be overlaid in place of or superimposed on the video signal.

48. The subscriber terminal of claim 37, wherein the screen data includes an attribute field for defining a screen display characteristic.