Television – Basic receiver with additional function
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-16
2001-07-10
Hsia, Sherrie (Department: 2614)
Television
Basic receiver with additional function
C348S563000, C348S564000, C348S569000, C725S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259487
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to television systems, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for enabling a user to access data network applications (e.g., internetwork browsing) from a television system.
2. Related Art
Since the 1940s, television systems have been increasingly embraced by many households, particularly in the industrial countries. Television systems have generally been used to view broadcasts made in distant parts of the world or to view a pre-recorded program from a video cassette player (VCP). A significant proportion of the households presently have at least one television set in their homes. Television displays are presently available or anticipated to be widely available in analog (e.g., NTSC analog signal displayed on a CRT based display screen) as well as digital technologies (e.g., HDTV).
In parallel, data network applications (hereafter “network applications”) have experienced a phenomenal growth since the mid-1980s. Network applications such as web-browsing and electronic mail have had a fundamental impact on the manner in which information is exchanged and disseminated. These network applications have particularly been implemented for and used along with computer systems such as personal computer systems, work-stations, and the like.
At least in view of the considerable presence of the television systems in the households, it may be desirable to provide the capability to access the network applications on television systems. However, there may be several problems which need to be addressed to enable access of data network applications from television systems.
For example, the display of network applications needs to be coordinated with the display of the television signal. The user may need to be provided the ability to select one display or the other, or to specify that each display occupy a portion of the television screen. Therefore, a television system may need to provide a user the ability to select one of television signal or the network application, and accordingly display the selection in a pre-specified portion.
In addition, the system may need to be designed to appropriately process the different forms/formats in which the signals of the network applications and television signal are received. For example, a television signal may be received in interlaced format (e.g., composite television signal in NTSC format) and the network application data may be received in a non-interlaced format. Further, the provision of network application access may need to be cost-effective for wider market acceptance.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus which addresses such problems and provides a user the ability to access network applications from a television system in a cost-effective manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for enabling a user to access data network applications from a television system. An on-screen display (OSD) controller is provided, which stores network application data and other display entities (such as text and pointer information) in a memory module. These other display entities may be provided for providing additional features or for enhancing the ease of use of the television system. For example, a pointer is provided to facilitate user interface operations and text may be used to display status messages (e.g., MUTE, VIDEO). OSD controller stores all the display entities in the memory module, typically as a bit map.
The display entities are stored in separate portions of the memory module. Such a storage enables the individual display entities to be modified (or defined) independently. As a result, the display of each display entity can be modified without necessarily impacting or being impacted by display of other display entities. For example, to achieve a scroll operation of the network application data, only the bit map of the network application data in the memory module needs to be updated. The display entitles are then overlayed prior to display in accordance with the present invention.
OSD controller overlays all the display entities stored in the memory module according to a predetermined priority. In one embodiment, pointer display entity is provided the highest priority, followed by text, network application data, and television signal in that order.
To overlay the different display entities, the present invention uses a transparency color. If a pixel data element of a display entity is set to the transparency color value, it indicates that the display entity need not be displayed in the pixel position (on television display screen) represented by the pixel data element. Accordingly, the corresponding pixel data element in the display entity with the next lower priority is considered for display on that pixel position. If all the display entities stored in the memory module have a value equal to transparency color for a given pixel position, the television signal (having the lowest priority) is displayed in the given position on the display screen. Thus, television signal display is considered to have the lowest priority.
In one embodiment, overlaying is performed on a pixel by pixel basis. Specifically, one of the corresponding pixel data elements (i.e., which are correlated to the same pixel position on display screen) of the display entities stored in memory module is selected according to the prioritization scheme described above. If all of these pixel data elements have a value equal to the transparency color, the television signal is displayed in the corresponding pixel position on the television display screen.
According to another aspect of the present invention, OSD controller generates one or more half-tone signals which cause the television signal display at a corresponding pixel position to be altered (e.g., displayed typically darker than that indicated by the television signal for that pixel position). To achieve such an alteration, OSD controller sets corresponding pixel data elements in the memory module to the half-tone values. The specific pixel data elements can be in any of the display entities stored in the memory module.
When a given pixel data element has a value equal to a half tone color value and corresponding pixel data elements of display entities of higher priority are found to be equal to the transparency color value, a half tone signal correlated with the given pixel data element is asserted. The assertion causes the television signal display at the same position as that of the given pixel to be altered (displayed darker).
Thus, the present invention enables a user to access data network applications from a television system. This is accomplished by storing network application data in a memory module along with other display entities.
Also, the present invention allows individual display entities (other than television signal) to be modified independently by storing each of such display entities in a separate portion of the memory module.
In addition, the present invention allows different display entities to be displayed on the same television display screen by overlaying the display entities. Also, these display entities are overlayed using a priority scheme.
Further, the present invention overlays the display entitis by using a programmable transparency color.
Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4768083 (1988-08-01), Romesburg
patent: 5327156 (1994-07-01), Masukane et al.
patent: 5355328 (1994-10-01), Arbeiter et al.
patent: 5510843 (1996-04-01), Keene et al.
patent: 5539428 (1996-07-01), Bril et al.
patent: 5608864 (1997-03
Hsia Sherrie
Law Firm of Naren Thappeta
TeleCruz Technology, Inc.
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