Apparatus and method for improved parental control of television use

• US 6,321,381 B1
• Filed: 04/26/2000
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1993
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Gemstar Development Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gemstar Development Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Mankovitz, Roy J., Kwoh, Daniel S., Yuen, Henry C.
• Primary Examiner(s): HSIA, SHERRIE Y
• Application Number:
  US09/558,536
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.7087, H04/N.5445, 725/25, 725/27, 725/28, 725/29, 725/30, 725/116, 348/569, 348/906, 348/563, 348/564, 348/567
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/107 of operating tapes
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/14 for the transfer of light or images, e.g. for video-surveillance, for television or from a computer screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/42 characterized by the control of the jamming frequency or wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0887 for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/166 Passage/non-passage of the television signal, e.g. jamming, band suppression scrambling and descrambling H04N7/167

Abstract

An apparatus and method for parental control of television programs. Program schedule information including program titles are stored in a memory and displayed on a monitor. Compressed code is entered for the programs to be blocked. Alternatively, one or more program titles are selected from the displayed program schedule information for blocking by a parental control circuitry connected to a controller.

Claims

1. A system for exercising access control over a television program comprising:

a memory for storing television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;

a monitor for displaying some of the schedule information including program titles;

an input device for selecting one of the displayed program titles for viewing a television program represented by the selected program title; and

a parental control circuit for blocking the selected television program from being viewed as a function of the television program schedule information.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the television program schedule information comprises a telecast channel, a telecast time and a length of telecast for each of the television programs, and wherein the control circuit acquires control of a channel of a television signal corresponding to a telecast channel of one of the television programs when a telecast time of the television program equals current time, and blocks the channel for a duration equal to the length of the telecast of the television program.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the control circuit further comprises a second memory for storing the television program schedule information for the selected program title.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the television program schedule information for the selected program title are stored in a second memory in temporal order.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a blocking circuit for blocking a plurality of program scenes from being viewed wherein, an indication of a program scene to be blocked is retrieved from a television signal.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising blocking circuit for blocking the display of schedule information on the display monitor for a blocked channel.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the input device comprises a remote controller having at least a first key for selectively positioning a cursor on a television program displayed on the monitor, and a second key for selecting the displayed program title.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a vertical blanking interval decoder for extracting the television program schedule information from a vertical blanking interval portion of a television signal and storing the television program schedule information to the memory.

9. A method for controlling access to television programs comprising the steps of:

displaying television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs on a monitor;

marking a program title from the displayed schedule information; and

blocking a television program represented by the marked program title from being displayed on the monitor as a function of the television program schedule information for a selected title.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of blocking a plurality of program scenes from being viewed wherein, an indication of a program scene to be blocked is retrieved from a television signal.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the marking step further comprises the step of selectively positioning a cursor on a displayed television title, and activating an input device for entering the marked program title into a memory.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of extracting the television program schedule information from a vertical blanking interval portion of a television signal and storing the extracted television program schedule information in a memory.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of selectively tuning to a channel of a television signal, and wherein the blocking step further comprises the step of controlling a tuner to block the selectively tuned channel from the monitor.

14. A system for exercising access control over a television program comprising:

a memory for storing television schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;

a monitor for displaying some of the schedule information including program titles;

an input device for selecting one of the displayed program titles for viewing a television program represented by the selected program title; and

a parental control circuit for blocking a plurality of program scenes from the selected television program from being viewed as a function of information retrieved from a television signal.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a vertical blanking interval decoder for retrieving information from a vertical blanking interval portion of the television signal and storing the retrieved information in the memory.

16. A method for controlling access to television programs comprising the steps of:

storing television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;

displaying the television program schedule information including program titles on a monitor;

selecting a program title from the displayed schedule information; and

blocking a program scene from a television program represented by the selected program title from being displayed on the monitor as a function of the information retrieved from a television signal.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of extracting the information for blocking program scenes from a vertical blanking interval portion of the television signal and storing the extracted television program schedule information in a memory.