Method and apparatus for limiting access to signals delivered via the internet

• US 6,714,759 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2001
• Issued: 03/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Titantv Inc.
• Original Assignee: Decisionmark Corp. (Broadcast Interactive Media, LLC)
• Inventors: Franken, Kenneth A., Moubarak, Toufic T., Perry, Jack, Cechota, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Application Number:
  US09/803,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20010011008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.02, 455/303, 455/3.01, 455/427, 455/428, 455/185.1, 455/186.1, 455/184.1, 725/48, 725/49, 725/25, 370/316, 370/323
• US Class Current: 455/3.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18547 for geolocalisation of a station position fixing by direction or distance determination G01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing

Abstract

An apparatus for controlling the reception of electronic digital signals, which could include internet signals as a function of the location of a receiver for receiving the internet signals and further as a function of the signal strength of a terrestrially broadcast television signal at the location of the internet receiver is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining geographic reference information for a particular location on the surface of the earth;

wherein said geographic reference information is a unique identifier of a worldwide geographic reference scheme which associates a unique identifier with every location on earth;

using said geographic reference information in calculating signal strength signal representative of a signal strength of a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location;

inhibiting use of a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not a terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said signal strength signal, when said signal strength signal exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein said step of using and said step of inhibiting each do not include a step of receiving said predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location.

2. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining geographic reference information for a particular location on the surface of the earth;

wherein said geographic reference information is a unique identifier of a worldwide geographic reference scheme which associates a unique identifier with every location on earth;

using said geographic reference information in calculating signal strength signal representative of a signal strength of a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location;

inhibiting use of a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not the predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said signal strength signal, when said signal strength signal exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein said predetermined electronic digital signal is a signal transmitted over an internet connection.

3. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining geographic reference information for a particular location on the surface of the earth;

wherein said geographic reference information is a unique identifier of a worldwide geographic reference scheme which associates a unique identifier with every location on earth;

using said geographic reference information in calculating signal strength, signal representative of a signal strength of a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location;

inhibiting use of a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not the predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said signal strength signal, when said signal strength signal exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein said predetermined electronic digital signal is a signal transmitted via satellite.

4. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining geographic reference information for a particular location on the surface of the earth;

wherein said geographic reference information is a unique identifier of a worldwide geographic reference scheme which associates a unique identifier with every location on earth;

using said geographic reference information in calculating signal strength signal representative of a signal strength of a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location;

inhibiting use of a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not the predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said signal strength signal, when said signal strength signal exceeds a predetermined threshold;

wherein said predetermined electronic digital signal is a signal transmitted via satellite; and

wherein said inhibiting use of a predetermined electronic digital signal utilizes a display screen to display access information relating to an access characteristic.

5. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining latitude and longitude reference coordinates for a particular location on the earth;

utilizing a Longley-Rice signal strength calculator to determine a geographic reception area for a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal having a signal strength above a predetermined threshold;

using a Puckett point-in-polygon tester to make a comparison of said coordinates with points inside said geographic reception area;

inhibiting access to a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not the predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said comparison, when said coordinates are located inside said geographic reception area, and,

said predetermined electronic digital signal is a signal transmitted over an internet connection.

6. A method of regulating access to electronic digital communication signals comprising:

determining a latitude and a longitude for a particular location on the earth;

using the latitude and the longitude for generating signal strength signals representative of a signal strength of a predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location;

inhibiting access to a predetermined electronic digital signal, which is not a terrestrially broadcast signal, in response to said signal strength signal, when said signal strength signal exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein said step of using and said step of inhibiting each do not include a step of receiving said predetermined terrestrially broadcast signal at said particular location.