Television – Nonpictorial data packet in television format
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-21
2002-10-29
Lee, Michael H. (Department: 2714)
Television
Nonpictorial data packet in television format
C348S901000, C348S569000, C725S053000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06473128
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a television signal processing device having receiving means for receiving at least one television signal in at least one receiving channel receivable by the receiving means, and for receiving at least one information signal, and having television program information determining means for determining and storing television program information contained in one or more information signals and relating to television programs of at least one receivable receiving channel, and having display signal generating means for automatically generating a display signal containing detected television program information of a television program whose television signal is currently received by the receiving means.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a television signal processing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph, included in a television set, is known from the document is known from European Patent Application EP 0 337 336 A2. The known television set has receiving means with which it is possible to receive a television signal, which can be reproduced as a television program on a television set which can be connected from a television station—as, for example, ARD, ZDF or CNN—in a receiving channel. A received television signal can be displayed as a television program on a viewing screen of the television set.
The receiving means is further adapted to receive an information signal transmitted in blanking intervals of a television signal. The information signal conveys digital data including VPS information (Video Program System) and teletext information. Each television program received as a television signal is identified by given VPS information. VPS information also includes television signal identification information which identifies a television signal and by means of which the television station, which makes a television signal available and which transmits this signal, can be identified. Teletext information of a television signal may include television program information about television programs of one or more receiving channels which can be received, for example, within the next week Television program information can be formed by digital data representative of television signal identification information, the date, the starting and ending time, the title as well as the VPS information of a television program.
The known television set further comprises television program information determining means for determining and storing television program information contained in the information signal. For this purpose, the television program information determining means uses a television program information determining algorithm in which each receivable receiving channel, in which a television signal containing an information signal in the blanking intervals can be received, is successively received by the receiving means for a given period of time in order to determine and store television program information for receivable television signals of as many television programs as possible.
The known television set is then adapted to compare VPS information currently received by the receiving means with VPS information determined and stored by the television program information determining means in the television set, and is adapted to determine television program information of television program currently received by the receiving means. Subsequently, a display signal generating means is automatically adapted to generate a display signal which can be reproduced on the viewing screen of the television set as an on-screen display to display the title of the television program currently received by the television signal. Thus, a user of the known television set is informed about the title of the television program at the beginning of each television program received by the television set.
Moreover, by the actuation of a key of the remote control device of the known television set, the television set can display a list of receiving suggestions which contains the titles and starting times of television programs and television signal identification information of the television stations from which these television programs can be received currently or shortly. When the receiving means can receive, for example, 40 different television signals in 40 receiving channels, such a list of receiving suggestions will have up to 80 rows, a currently receivable television program and a shortly receivable television program, i.e., starting, for example, at the latest within half an hour, being given for each receiving channel. With the aid of the list of receiving suggestions, the user can select a currently or shortly receivable television program he/she is interested in without briefly viewing each currently receivable television program of each receiving channel by actuation of a Channel Up key or Channel Down key.
It has been found that, with the known television set, the automatic display of the title of the television program of the currently received receiving channel is very informative for the user, but that this does not provide any indication about which television programs are currently receivable in other receiving channels or which television programs are shortly receivable in other receiving channels. As a result, the user will very often view a television program which is only of mediocre interest to him/her, while, at the same time, a television program which is highly interesting for him could be received in another receiving channel.
This problem is neither solved by means of the list of receiving suggestions which can be displayed by the actuation of a key of the remote control device of the known television set because the user probably reads this list of receiving suggestions, which may have many rows, one time at the beginning of an evening of television in order to pick a television program which may be of interest to him but will definitely not do so every half an hour, although this would be necessary in order not to miss the beginning of an interesting television program. Furthermore, scrolling through a list of receiving suggestions resembling a computer list is a nuisance for a user who is not familiar with a computer, for which reason the list of receiving suggestions is used only seldom by users of the known television set.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the aforementioned problems and to provide an improved television signal processing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph. In a television signal processing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph, this object is achieved in that the television signal processing device further comprises selection means for selecting at least one television program having title information contained in the detected television program information containing at least one given keyword and which is currently receivable or will be shortly receivable by the receiving means as a television signal in another than the currently received receiving channel, and in that display signal generating means automatically generates a display signal containing television program information of the at least one selected television program. Thus, it is achieved that a display signal, which is reproducible as an on-screen display, can be displayed automatically by a television signal processing device included in, for example, a television set, this display signal indicating the title of a current starting television program and the television signal identification information or the receiving channel on which this television program is receivable when the receiving means of the television set currently receives a television signal in another receiving channel. Such an on-screen display can be shown, for example, for 5 seconds. This has the advantage that the user's attention is drawn to the start of a television program which otherwise he/she might have missed because the television set has been t
Goodman Edward W.
Lee Michael H.
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