Interactive video distribution systems – Access control or blocking – Of specific program
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-24
2001-04-10
Miller, John W. (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Access control or blocking
Of specific program
C725S151000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216263
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to television broadcast systems, and more particularly to analog or digital television broadcast receivers and methods wherein program content rating data transmitted concurrently with a television program signal is utilized to provide parental control over the viewing by children of television programs broadcast over the system.
Various systems and receivers have been proposed for conveying program rating data along with a conventional NTSC television transmission. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,584 to Carl Elam et al. describes a system wherein program content rating data is transmitted as digital codes along with conventional closed captioning data as part of a data component on line
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in the vertical blanking interval. A receiver is described wherein this information is compared with stored user-selected program limits or viewing authorizations and the program is selectively blanked if it is not authorized by the stored selection criteria.
One problem which may arise in the implementation of the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,584 is that in certain cases the received television program signal may be so weak or degraded by interference as to prevent the decoding of reliable closed captioning data or program content rating data. Under the latter circumstance, the receiver may ultimately provide access to an unauthorized program, or deny access to an authorized program. Moreover, the parental control afforded by the receiver of the Elam et al. patent could potentially be defeated by a viewer weakening the television program signal sufficiently, as by disconnecting a portion of the antenna, so that reliable program content rating characters in a received, unauthorized program are not derived by the receiver for comparison with the stored viewing authorizations and the receiver defaults to a viewing enabled state.
The present invention is directed to an improvement in the system proposed by Elam et al. wherein in an analog or digital television receiver the integrity of a data signal transmitted with the television program transmission is monitored to determine whether the data signal is being reliably received, and hence whether reliable rating characters are being received. In the event the integrity of the data signal falls below an acceptable threshold level, the program is either blanked, or, depending on the operating mode of the receiver, a determination is made whether to blank depending on either 1) the viewing authorization then in effect for the viewer, or 2) whether a default to view or default to blank authorization has been stored for the viewer.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a television receiver which provides conditional access to received television programs.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide an analog or digital television receiver which provides conditional access to received television programs depending on the presence of reliable rating data in the received program signal.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide an analog or digital television receiver which provides conditional access to received television programs depending on the presence of reliable rating data in the received program signal and on the applicable viewer authorization then in effect.
It is a still more specific object of the present invention to provide an analog or digital television receiver wherein the presence of reliable program rating data is confirmed by monitoring parity error rate in a digital data signal component of the received television broadcast signal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a television receiver for receiving and displaying to a viewer a television program transmission signal which includes a data signal and a program content rating signal indicative of the program content rating of the received television transmission. The receiver comprises circuit means for separating the data signal and the program content rating signal from the television program signal, a rating derivation circuit for deriving the program rating from the program content rating signal, user selection means responsive to user inputs for storing program rating viewing authorizations for one or more viewers, means for comparing the derived program rating with the stored viewing authorization applicable to the viewer to develop a blanking control signal in the event the viewer is not authorized to view the program, a monitoring circuit for monitoring the integrity of at least a portion of the data signal, the monitoring circuit providing a rating default control signal upon the integrity of the portion of the data signal falling below a predetermined threshold level, and a blanking circuit responsive to the blanking control signal and the rating default control signal for blanking the program in the event the program rating level is not authorized to the viewer or the integrity of the portion of the data signal falls below the predetermined threshold level.
The invention is further directed to a television receiver for receiving and displaying to a viewer a television program transmission signal including a data signal and a program content rating signal indicative of the program content rating of the received television transmission. The receiver comprises circuit means for separating the data signal from the television program transmission signal, a rating derivation circuit for deriving the program rating signal component from the digital data signal, a rating derivation circuit for deriving the program rating from the program content rating signal, user selection means responsive to user inputs for storing program rating viewing authorizations for one or more viewers including default to view authorizations, means for comparing the derived program rating with the stored viewing authorization applicable to the viewer to develop a blanking control signal in the event the viewer is not authorized to view the program, a monitoring circuit for monitoring the integrity of at least a portion of the data signal, the monitoring circuit providing a rating default control signal upon the integrity of the portion of the data signal falling below a predetermined threshold level, a blanking circuit responsive to the blanking control signal and the rating default control signal for blanking the program video in the event the program rating level is not authorized to the viewer or the integrity of the data signal falls below the threshold level, and means responsive to the rating default control signal and the stored program rating viewing authorizations for inhibiting the blanking of the program by the blanking control signal and the rating default control signal when the applicable stored viewing authorization includes a default to view rating for the viewer when signal integrity falls below the threshold level.
The invention is further directed to a television receiver for receiving and displaying to a viewer a television program transmission signal including a digital data signal which includes a closed captioning signal component and a program rating signal component indicative of the program content rating of the received television transmission. The receiver comprises circuit means for separating the digital data signal from the television program signal, a closed captioning derivation circuit for deriving the closed captioning signal component from the data signal, a rating derivation circuit for separating the program content rating signal component from the closed captioning signal component, a rating derivation circuit for deriving the program rating from the program content rating signal, user selection means responsive to user inputs for storing program rating viewing authorizations for one or more viewers, means for comparing the derived program rating with the stored viewing authorization applicable to the viewers to develop a blanking control signal in the event the viewer is not author
Cook, Alex, McFarron, Mauzo, Cummings & Mehler
Miller John W.
Soundview Technologies Incorporated
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