Interactive video distribution systems – Local video distribution system – Multiunit or multiroom structure
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-16
2003-03-04
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Local video distribution system
Multiunit or multiroom structure
C725S080000, C439S502000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530085
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for interconnecting a plurality of consumer electronics devices. More specifically, the present invention is directed to systems and methods that allow interconnection of a television set or other display device and various consumer electronics devices such as VCRs, video disk players, satellite receivers, cable boxes, video game players, and Internet terminal devices.
2. The Prior State of the Art
Since its introduction, the television has provided a source of entertainment for millions of individuals. The television has traditionally been a fairly simple device that is easy for users to set up and connect. Traditionally, a user simply unboxed the television, connected the antenna, plugged the television in and turned it on.
Today, however, televisions have moved well beyond their traditional configurations and may form the center of a wide array of entertainment and information systems. For example, various consumer electronics devices, such as VCRs, video disk players, video game devices, and so forth, may be connected to a television to provide enhanced entertainment opportunities. In addition, recently there have been introduced a variety of inexpensive Internet terminal boxes which allow individuals to connect to the Internet to send and receive information. These Internet terminals use a television set as the display device. Furthermore, video programming may be received not only from traditional broadcast antennas, but also cable television services and satellite receivers. In order to give a high quality viewing experience, home theater systems that provide surround sound and near theater quality audio can also be connected.
Although consumers are now able to custom configure a wide variety of home entertainment and information systems using the various consumer electronic choices available today, connecting the devices together in order to realize the full benefit of the consumer electronic devices can be extremely difficult. In fact, various configurations can be so complicated, that users refuse to consider the purchase of additional consumer electronics devices simply because they cannot figure out how to connect them together. In order to provide high quality video and audio, the mechanisms for connecting these various consumer electronics devices to a television may vary dramatically from device to device. Connections may include not only coaxial cable, but also a variety of RCA-type connectors for audio and/or video, S-video connectors, and so forth. If the various video and audio standards of foreign countries are taken into account, the various configurations and connectors is extremely vast.
In order to help illustrate the magnitude of the problem, reference will now be made to
FIGS. 1-6
which show various potential configurations for how an Internet terminal, such as those that are commonly available today, may be connected to a television. Referring first to
FIG. 1
, the most basic configuration is illustrated. In
FIG. 1
, a low-cost Internet terminal is illustrated generally as
20
. Such Internet terminals are typically specialized low-cost computer devices designed specifically to connect to the Internet and allow browsing and delivery of information from the Internet to the television screen. Such computers include the NC, licensed by Network Computer, Inc., the Sega Saturn (combined with the netlink accessory), by Sega Corporation, and the WebTV, by WebTV Networks, Inc. As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, such Internet terminals may have a plurality of various connectors on the back of the device that allow the device to be connected to the television and to the various other consumer electronics devices a user might have. In
FIG. 1
, such connectors are illustrated generally as
22
.
In the most basic configuration, an Internet terminal is connected to the television without any other consumer electronics devices via traditional coaxial cable. In this configuration, illustrated in
FIG. 1
, coaxial cable
24
coming from an antenna or cable box is connected to an input connector
26
. A second coaxial cable
28
is connected between Internet terminal
20
and television
30
as illustrated in FIG.
1
. Additionally, power cord
32
and telephone cable
34
are connected to their respective connectors. Such a configuration would be used, for example, with an older style television which only had a VHF/UHF connector
36
as indicated.
In order to improve the video quality of information flowing from a consumer electronics device to a television, many newer televisions have direct audio and video inputs. Such a television is illustrated, for example, in FIG.
2
. As illustrated in
FIG. 2
, Television
38
has not only VHF/UHF connector
36
but also a direct video input
40
and a direct audio input
42
. Such connectors are usually configured to receive a standard RCA type connector. As indicated in
FIG. 2
, a standard RCA cable
44
is connected to video input
40
, audio input
42
and corresponding video output
46
and audio output
48
on the Internet terminal. Since the television is configured only to accept mono audio signals, the second stereo audio output is not utilized.
Turning next to
FIG. 3
, yet a different type of television having different connectors is illustrated. In this figure, television
50
has not only video inputs
40
but also S-video input
52
and stereo audio inputs
54
and
56
. S-video is yet another standard that has been developed in order to provide crisper, higher quality video signals to televisions. Thus, it is desirable to use S-video whenever possible. In
FIG. 3
, therefore, rather than using video input
40
, S-video cable
58
is connected between S-video input
52
and S-video output
60
of Internet terminal
20
. Left channel audio input
54
is then connected to left channel audio output connector
48
of Internet terminal
20
, and right channel audio input
56
is connected to right channel audio output
62
of Internet terminal
20
in order to provide stereo sound between Internet terminal
20
and television
50
. If, for some reason, the user did not desire to use the S-video input, then television
50
may be connected to Internet terminal
20
as illustrated in
FIG. 4
by using RCA cable
44
to connect video output
46
to video input
40
.
FIGS. 1-4
illustrate the complexity that can occur when connecting a consumer electronics device to a television. These situations illustrate only a single consumer electronic device, represented by Internet terminal
20
. Such a consumer electronics device is, however, simply representative since identical events happen whenever any type of consumer electronics device is connected to a television. When multiple consumer electronics devices are connected to a television, the situation becomes even more confusing. One such configuration is illustrated in
FIG. 5
where the video programming is provided by a cable television service. The consumer also has both an Internet terminal and a VCR that he desires to connect to a television. Given these choices,
FIG. 5
represents one possible configuration that a user might be required to connect.
In
FIG. 5
, video programming is delivered to the user through coaxial cable
24
. When video programming is delivered from a cable television service, usually some, and occasionally all, of the channels are scrambled or otherwise encoded to discourage piracy. Cable television services thus, typically require a user to have a cable box
64
to decode these channels. Coaxial cable
24
is therefore connected to input connector
66
. Output connector
68
is typically connected via coaxial cable
70
to the input connector
72
of VCR
74
. Output connector
76
of VCR
74
is connected via coaxial cable
78
to input connector
26
of Internet terminal
20
. Output connector
35
of Internet terminal
20
is connected via coaxial cable
28
to input connector
36
of television
50
as previously described. Inte
Faile Andrew
Koenig Andrew Y
WebTV Networks Inc.
Workman & Nydegger & Seeley
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