Television – Special applications – Manufacturing
Patent
1993-09-22
1995-08-29
Groody, James J.
Television
Special applications
Manufacturing
348460, 358908, 358335, H04N 708
Patent
active
054464889
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to methods of, and apparatus for, distributing and viewing television programmes and for recording television programmes for later replay.
BACKGROUND ART
In recent years it has become common for consumers of television broadcasts to make use of video recording devices (commonly known as videocassette recorders or VCRs) to make recordings of television programmes for their own use. One of the most common uses of the domestic VCR is to record a television programme which is being broadcast at a time when it is inconvenient for the householder to watch television, or at a time when the householder is occupied watching another desired programme on a different channel. The programme is recorded without necessarily being viewed at the time of recording, being replayed for viewing at a more convenient time. This process is commonly called time-shifted viewing.
One limitation of the prior-art time-shifted viewing method is that many programmes are broadcast with interruptions, such as non-programmes material, which may detract from the viewer's enjoyment. Non-programme material includes commercial messages, half-time breaks at sporting fixtures, editorial commentary during movies, station identifications and other material not essential to the programme. Interruptions of this nature are one significant reason why alternative methods are often chosen for viewing movies in particular, such as rental of pre-recorded interruption-free movies, or subscription television services which provide interruption free movies for a fee.
These methods also suffer limitations. Rental movies incur the inconvenience of having to physically collect the tape from a video library and return it after viewing, are costly compared to recording off-air, and can only be viewed over the relatively short period of time for which the tape is rented. Subscription services are generally of the pay-per-view type, in which the viewer pays a fee for each movie viewed, or time-based subscription, where the user pays a periodical fee for access to the service for a prescribed time, during which it can be utilised as much as desired. Both these types of subscription service require a complex and expensive distribution infrastructure and are expensive to operate, resulting in high cost to the consumer. One major problem with subscription television services is piracy, that is, the utilisation of free-to-air or cable signals by people who are not subscribers. Piracy is a cause of considerable financial loss to service providers, and much effort has been devoted to securing subscription or pay-per-view services against such abuse. The primary scheme for preventing piracy is to encrypt broadcasts in such a way as to render the signals unwatchable except with the aid of decoders available only to legitimate viewers. It is now also commonplace for such decoders to be equipped with control means which enable the service provider to enable or disable decoding from a central office, providing means of ensuring that individual subscribers cannot continue to use their decoders unless they have paid for the service, for example by monthly subscription. A further well-known extension of the system is the pay-per-view arrangement, whereby the charge for the service is based on usage. One charging method for pay-per-view involves issuing each user a certain number of credits in the form of data stored in the decoder. A predetermined number of these credits are consumed each time the user selects a programme to be decoded, and when all credits are consumed, the decoder ceases to function and the user must purchase further credits. For convenience credits can be issued by transmitting appropriate data to the decoder over the air or cable.
One limitation of such subscription services is that the equipment required to deliver programmes, encrypt and decode the programme signals, and manage the charging system is complex and expensive.
A further limitation of subscription services is that because many viewers prefer to w
REFERENCES:
patent: 4605964 (1986-08-01), Chavel
patent: 4635121 (1987-01-01), Goffman
patent: 4787063 (1988-11-01), Muguet
patent: 4864429 (1989-09-01), Eigeldinger et al.
Groody James J.
Harvey David E.
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