Method and apparatus for displaying textual or graphic data on the screen of television receivers
First Claim
1. Apparatus for displaying textual or graphic data on a screen of a television receiver, the apparatus comprising:
- a memory device at the television receiver in which data representing local language commands is stored;
a microprocessor electrically coupled to the memory device;
first means for configuring the microprocessor to display on the screen the local language commands stored in the memory device;
means for receiving equivalent textual or graphic data from a VBI of a television signal, wherein the received data includes commands, in one or more foreign languages, corresponding to the local language commands;
a storage device for storing the equivalent data; and
second means for configuring the microprocessor to substitute the equivalent data for the local language commands such that the equivalent data is displayed instead of the local language commands, wherein a status bit is stored in the microprocessor to indicate whether the local language commands or equivalent data are to be displayed and, when a call for display of a command occurs, the second configuring means issues a command address and a memory access command, reads the status bit, accesses the memory device with the issued address if the status bit indicates local language commands are to be displayed, and accesses the storage device with the issued address if the status bit indicates equivalent data is to be displayed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A local language is pre-stored in permanent memory (24). Equivalent data is transmitted in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) to television receivers (17). Each equivalent data set comprises a unique language identifier (38) and a foreign language translation (36) of, or graphical representative of, the local language pre-stored in permanent memory. The viewer selects the language to be displayed from an on screen menu with a remote controller (23). The selected equivalent data is retrieved from the VBI and stored in a RAM (18) for future display. When the microprocessor calls up the text of a command for display, the equivalent data is substituted for the local language data so the foreign language version of the command can be displayed in a seamless manner. If no equivalent data is stored in the RAM, the local language pre-stored in permanent memory is displayed on the television screen in accordance with the normal operation of the microprocessor.
127 Citations
15 Claims
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1. Apparatus for displaying textual or graphic data on a screen of a television receiver, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory device at the television receiver in which data representing local language commands is stored;
a microprocessor electrically coupled to the memory device;
first means for configuring the microprocessor to display on the screen the local language commands stored in the memory device;
means for receiving equivalent textual or graphic data from a VBI of a television signal, wherein the received data includes commands, in one or more foreign languages, corresponding to the local language commands;
a storage device for storing the equivalent data; and
second means for configuring the microprocessor to substitute the equivalent data for the local language commands such that the equivalent data is displayed instead of the local language commands, wherein a status bit is stored in the microprocessor to indicate whether the local language commands or equivalent data are to be displayed and, when a call for display of a command occurs, the second configuring means issues a command address and a memory access command, reads the status bit, accesses the memory device with the issued address if the status bit indicates local language commands are to be displayed, and accesses the storage device with the issued address if the status bit indicates equivalent data is to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for displaying textual or graphic data on the screen of television receivers comprising the steps of:
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transmitting to a television receiver equivalent data in a VBI of a television signal, the equivalent data including a plurality of translations, or graphical representatives, in one or more foreign languages, of the local language commands;
creating a language menu including a listing of the foreign languages;
displaying the language menu on the screen;
choosing one of the transmitted foreign languages from the language menu at the television receiver;
and displaying foreign language translation of the commands corresponding to the chosen foreign language on the screen. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
attaching to the transmitted equivalent data a plurality of language identifiers, each being unique to one of the foreign language translations or graphical data representations;
inputting a choice from among the language identifiers;
comparing the inputted choice with the language identifiers attached to the equivalent data; and
storing the equivalent date when a match occurs in the comparing step.
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10. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of transmitting a television signal from a head end to each of the television receivers, the step of transmitting equivalent data comprising inserting the equivalent data into the television signal at the head end.
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11. The method of claim 10, in which the inserting step inserts the equivalent data into the VBI of the television signal.
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12. The method of claim 11, in which the step of transmitting equivalent data also transmits the local language commands and a local language identifier.
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13. The method of claim 8, additionally comprising the steps of assigning addresses to the local language commands indicative of the location on the screen where the commands are to be displayed, assigning addresses to the substituted equivalent data that are related to the addresses of the local language commands, configuring a microprocessor to display commands depending upon their addresses, and storing a status bit that indicates whether local language commands or a foreign language translation of the commands are to be displayed.
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14. The method of claim 13, additionally comprising configuring the microprocessor when a call is made for a command to issue an address to designate a screen location, retrieve the command responsive to the status bit and the issued address, and display the retrieved command.
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15. A method for displaying textual or graphic data on a screen of a television receiver comprising the steps of:
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storing in a local memory at the television receiver a set of commands in a first language and a set of the same commands in a second language, wherein the set of commands in the second language are received on a subcarrier of a television signal;
selecting one of the sets of commands for display on the screen;
assigning addresses to each set of commands indicative of the location on the screen where the commands are to be displayed;
configuring a microprocessor to display commands depending upon their addresses;
storing a status bit that indicates the selected set of commands to be displayed;
configuring the microprocessor when a call is made for a command to issue an address to designate a screen location, to retrieve the command responsive to the status bit and the issued address, and to display the retrieved command.
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Specification