TELEVISION BROADCAST SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE TRANSMISSION OF VIEWER-CHOSEN PROGRAMS AT VIEWER-REQUESTED TIMES

Abstract: A television broadcast system using land lines (14) is provided for real-time transmission of a viewer-chosen program at a viewer-requested time to the requesting viewer's television receiver (16). The preferred method includes the steps of providing a collection of stored programs (20), communicating the requesting viewer's choice of a program chosen from the collection (20) and a requested time for viewing the chosen program, selecting the chosen program from a collection (20), transmitting the chosen program at the requested time for viewing on the requesting viewer's receiver (16), and preventing intelligible viewing of the chosen program on other of the receivers (44), other than that which specifically requested the program selection. The preferred system (10) includes a central unit (12), land lines (14), a plurality of viewer-associated receivers (16), and a plurality of viewer-associated telephone handsets (18). Customers can communicate with customer service representative at telephone units (32) at the central station (12). Alternatively, customers can use their telephones (18) to communicate directly with the scheduling computer (28). The signal sources (36), the converter/scramblers (38), and the signal combiner prepare the plurality of requested programs for transmission over land line (14). Billing and addressing is controlled by billing and address computer (26).

Description: TELEVISION BROADCAST SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE TRANSMISSION OF VIEWER-CHOSEN PROGRAMS AT VIEWER-REQUESTED TIMES Background of the Invention 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commun¬ ity antenna television (CATV) system. More particu¬ larly, the present invention relates to a system in which a viewer can choose a program and request a time for viewing of the chosen program on the view¬ er's television receiver. 2. Description of the Prior Art With over half the homes in the United States now equipped with video cassette recorders, a major industry has developed which includes thou¬ sands of video stores for renting movies and other programs on video cassettes in order to εatsify a demand for over three billion rentals a year. One of the reasons video tape cassette rentals have become so popular is that the viewer can rent a desired program cassette from the video store's assortment and then view that program whenever desired. This is in contrast to conventional broad¬ cast television or premium cable television in which the viewer neither chooses the program being trans¬ mitted nor the time at which it is transmitted. Even with the advantages of cassette rent¬ al, certain problems are apparent. For example, the viewer must make a first round-trip to the video store to pick up the desired program cassette and then make a second round-trip to return the cas¬ sette. Additionally, the viewer may make a trip to the video store only to find that the movie is unavailable either because all of the available copies have already been rented, or that particular video store does not stock the desired movie. If such occurs, not only is the viewer inconvenienced, but the video store also loses potential rental - revenue. Furthermore, the existing system for renting video cassettes presents some inherent inefficiencies. For example, in order to minimize inconvenience to the customer, the video store must 10 be located at a premium, high rent, location such as a corner intersection or a shopping mall and pay the high rent associated with the premium location. Second, each video store must carry a complete library of video taped programs most of -ic which are unused at any given time. For example, it a video tape store may carry an inventory of over 5,000 program titles representing thousands more video cassettes owing to the duplication of many of the titles. The inventory problem is magnified if duplicate cassettes are stocked in VHS and BETA 20 for ts. At any given time, however, only a rela¬ tively small percentage of the titles will be rented which are typically the currently most popular pro¬ grams. Even with such a large inventory, the video store can satisfy relatively few requests for the ■ " most popular programs. That is to say, even if a number of copies of a currently popular program are in stock, the demand for this program may far exceed this number of copies and potential revenue is lost while other titles lie idle. 30 Third, the inventory problem for video rental stores is a growing one in that new titles are released to the video market each month with the result that the number of titles in a video store's inventory grows by at least this amount each month. 35 The physical space required to store these addition¬ al titles may grow at an even faster rate because more than one copy of each title may be purchased. In order to handle the ever increasing number of cassettes, the video store must increase its storage capacity for which it must pay a higher rent because of the store's premium location. In order to solve some of the problems associated with the video cassette rental industry, various prior art solutions have been proposed. For example, Patent No. 4,506,387 which is hereby incor¬ porated by reference discloses a system in which a cable television system (CATV) may download a re¬ cording from a central location over its cable trunk line to a memory module included in the viewer's television receiver. The program is downloaded in non-real time, typically in about 30 seconds, and the viewer then activates the memory module to view the program stored therein. The '387 patent pre¬ sents some disadvantages, however, in that the central location must be equipped to download the program in non-real time. Additionally, each view¬ er's receiver must be equipped with a memory module to store the downloaded program. Such equipment may be prohibitively expensive and may be also ineffi¬ cient in that a viewer's receiver must be properly equipped even though a particular viewer may seldom, if ever, desire to take advantage of the capability. Patent No. 4,381,522 which is hereby incorporated by reference discloses a system in which a viewer can telephone the cable company's central location and electronically select a spe¬ cialized recording such as a commercial advertise¬ ment for broadcast over one of the unused channels of the cable television system. A computer then schedules the program, transmits it at the scheduled time, and separately transmits a directory of all of the scheduled programs on another unused channel. The viewer then observes the directory channel to - > see when the requested recording is scheduled, and then turns to the channel indicated at the scheduled time to view the program. The provision of the directory channel encourages other viewers to view one of the scheduled recordings also. The system as 10 disclosed in the '522 patent does not allow the viewer to determine when the program is to be sche¬ duled and furthermore provides no means by which receivers other than the one of the requesting viewer are prevented from viewing the scheduled ■JΓ program. Summary of the Invention The present invention solves the problems as outlined above. The invention hereof allows a viewer to choose a program from a collection and to 20 view that program at a viewer-requested time on the viewer's receiver for which the viewer is billed and which also prevents non-requesting viewers from intelligible viewing of the chosen program on their associated receivers. This allows a viewer to ~ J 5 "rent" a program without the need for a VCR. The present invention is advantageously and preferably implemented in the context of a tele¬ vision transmission system, typically a CATV system, which uses land lines such as coaxial cables or 30 fiber optic cables for transmitting programs to a plurality of subscriber's receivers. Preferably, the television transmission system is an "address¬ able" system in which selected programs are scram¬ bled to prevent intelligible viewing thereof and in 35 which a descrambling signal can then be addressed to the receiver associated with the requesting viewer which in turn prompts the included control unit to descramble the program transmission for viewing on that receiver. The preferred method of the present inven¬ tion involves the steps of providing a collection of stored programs, selecting a program chosen from the collection for transmission at a reguested time in response to a request from a viewer, transmitting the chosen program in real-time over the system's land lines at the requested time, and preventing intelligible viewing of the chosen program at the requested time by receivers other than the request¬ ing viewer's receiver. More particularly, the preferred method includes the steps of scrambling the transmission of the chosen program and transmit¬ ting decoder signals to the requesting viewer's receiver in order to allow intelligible viewing of the chosen program thereon only by the requesting viewer and thereby preventing intelligible viewing by others. Additionally, the preferred method also includes the steps of transmitting the chosen pro¬ gram at the requested time over a selected channel and communicating the identity of the selected channel only to the requesting viewer. In preferred forms, the method hereof includes the steps of transmitting address signals specific to the control unit associated with the requesting viewer and transmitting associated de- scrambler signals specific to the selected channel over which the chosen program is being transmitted. Advantageously, the preferred method includes the steps of identifying a section of the land lines having a subset of receivers operably coupled thereto, transmitting the chosen program over the section of the land lines, identifying a juncture between the section and the remaining portion of the land lines, and preventing transmis¬ sion of the chosen program therebeyond by use of a blocking device located at the juncture. The preferred apparatus includes a collec¬ tion of stored programs, means for selectively 0 choosing certain ones of the programs for transmis¬ sion, means for transmitting a chosen program at a requested time, and a scheduling computer for sche¬ duling program choices and requested times. The preferred apparatus also includes computer means for c receiving information from the requesting viewer as encoded signals preferably over telephone lines using telephone touch-tones. In especially prefer¬ red forms, the computer means is equipped for voice communication with the requesting viewer either in the form of synthetically generated voice signals or prerecorded selected messages. Other preferred aspects of the present invention are explained hereinbelow. Brief Description of the Drawing Figures 5 Figure 1 is schematic illustration of the preferred configuration of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration showing the preferred interconnection between the configura¬ tion of Fig. 1 and sections of the transmission 0 system. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments The present invention is preferably imple¬ mented in the context of a conventional community 5 antenna television (CATV) system, the equipment and operation of which are well understood by those skilled in the art and which are explained in part in the Electronics Engineer's Handbook, Second Edition, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Preferred system 10 (Figs. 1) includes central unit 12, land lines 14, a plurality of viewer-associated receivers 16, and a plurality of viewer-associated telephone handsets 18. Central unit 12 includes program collec¬ tion 20, a plurality of signal transmitters 22, signal combiner 24, billing and address computer 26, scheduling computer 28, a plurality of input data computer terminals 30 having associated telephone units 32, and output schedule computer terminal 34. Program collection 20 includes a plurality of programs stored on a medium allowing selective reproduction and real-time transmission thereof over land lines 14 for reception by and viewing on re¬ ceiver 16 by an associated viewer. Preferably, the programs stored in collection 20 are stored on 3/4" video tape which allows for higher fidelity repro¬ duction than conventional 1/2" video tape. Each program is preferably assigned and labeled with a catalog number, a list of which is stored in sche¬ duling computer 28. Preferably, up to three copies of selected programs are included in collection 20 which to allow continuous transmission of ninety- minute programs at half-hour intervals if desired for currently popular programs. As those skilled in the art will appreci¬ ate, the programs in collection 20 can be stored on a variety of media including compact disks, floppy disks, hard disks, conventional magnetic tape, elec¬ tronic memory such as that disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,506,387, or the like. While storage on video tape is preferred, available technology and economic factors may dictate an alternative storage medium. Signal transmitters 22 are conventional units commonly found in the "head end" of a typical CATV system. Signal transmitter 22 includes signal source 36 and converter/scrambler unit 38. Signal source 36 in a typical CATV system is the origination point for signals received by way of antenna, microwave, land lines from a local television station, or a video cassette recorder (VCR). Preferred signal source 36 includes a 3/4" video cassette recorder (VCR) operable to receive and play video cassettes selected from collection 20 and to produce signals representative thereof for presentation to converter/scrambler unit 38. Conventional converter/scrambler unit 38 receives signals from signal source 36 and converts those signals for output on a predetermined fre¬ quency channel. In a conventional system, these channels include low band, mid-band, high band, super band, and hyper band, which, depending upon the design of the system, may allow selection of up to seventy different channels for program trans¬ mission on a single coaxial cable trunk line. In the preferred system, unit 38 is operable to selec¬ tively scramble program transmissions. Conventional signal combiner 24 receives the output signals from transmitters 22 on the various channels and combines those signals for transmission over land lines 14. Signal combiner 24 is also typically coupled with conventional billing and address computer 26. Computer 26 is operable to transmit decod¬ er signals by way of signal combiner 24 onto land lines 14 and thereby to receivers 16 which allows intelligible viewing of scrambled program transmis¬ sion on selected ones of receivers 16 and prevents intelligible viewing on others. That is to say, 5 computer 16 keeps track of which viewers which have subscribed to certain premium channels such HBO, and periodically transmits decoder signals which include address signals specific to receivers 16. Deεcram- bling signals are typically associated with the 10 address signals which prompts the addressed receiver 16 to descramble the transmissions identified by the associated descra bler signals. Receivers 16 which do not receive descrambling signals associated with their respective address signals prevent intelli- , t - gible viewing of the scrambled program transmission. Computer 26 is also operable for producing billing information as appropriate for the services to which the individual viewers have subscribed. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the vari¬ ous functions performed by computer 26 may be per¬ 0 formed by separate computers. Scheduling computer 28 is preferably a minicomputer and is operably coupled with terminals 30, with computer 26, and with terminal 34. As will be explained further hereinbelow, computer 28 re¬ 5 ceives data representative of the program choices and requested times for viewing thereof and presents outputs at terminal 34 whereby the chosen program can be selected from collection 20 for transmission by the respective signal transmitter 22 at the 0 requested time. In one embodiment, viewers communicate their program choices and requested viewing times by way of conventional telephone handsets 18 connected through the local telephone network. Respective 5 customer service representatives answer the incoming calls over phone units 32 and then enter the infor¬ mation communicated from the viewers into scheduling computer 28 by way of respective terminals 30, each of which includes a conventional data entry keyboard and monitor. Land lines 14 typically include coaxial cables which transmit the programs from program unit 12 to receivers 16. Receivers 16 are conventially coupled with land lines 14 by way of respective cable taps 40. Receivers 16 each include control unit 42 and television 44. Control unit 42 converts a program transmission received from land lines 14 on one of the variouε tranεmisεion channels to an output on a preselected channel for reception by television 24. Control unit 42 is also operable to selec¬ tively descramble certain of the transmisεionε received by way of land lines 14 from central unit 12. Each control unit 42 is equipped to receive decoder signals to detect its specific address signal from computer 26 and in responεe to deεcra - ble the transmission identified by the descrambling signals associated with the addresε signals. In the preferred method of operating system 10, each subscribing household is provided with a catalog of the programs included in collec¬ tion 20 along with the associated program identifi¬ cation number by which scheduling computer 28 iden- tifieε the program and by which they are labeled and εtored in collection 20. Preferably, monthly sup¬ plements to the program catalog are provided as new programs are added to collection 20 and new catalogs are periodically iεεued incorporating the previouε εupplementε as needed. The program listings in the catalog are preferably arranged alphabetically and also by subject category to facilitate selection of a desired type of program. Collection 20 includes full-length movies, recordings of previously trans¬ mitted regularly scheduled commercial broadcasts and other programs of interest to the subscribers. Each subscribing household is preferably provided with a confidential identication number in order to prevent unauthorized ordering and thereby billing of a program. After a viewer has chosen a program, the viewer then uses telephone handset 18 to place a telephone call over the conventional telephone network to the telephone number associated with central unit 12. Customer service representatives answer, the incoming telephone calls to whom the viewer communicates the program choice and requeεted time along with the viewer's name and confidential identification number. The customer service repre¬ sentative then enters this information by way of terminal 30 into computer 28. In accordance with conventional computer programming techniques well known to those skilled in the art, computer 28 first determines whether the viewer's name and identification number match. If not, this fact is communicated to the representative who informs the viewer that the request cannot be satisfied without a correct match. If the customer name and identification number do match, computer 28 then determines whether the chosen program has been already previously scheduled at the requeεted time. If such is the case, computer 28 need not reschedule the chosen program, but rather needs only prompt address computer 26 to transmit proper decoding εignalε to the viewer'ε control unit 16 at the requested time to allow the viewer's receiver to deεcramble the program and to enter the billing information. If the chosen movie has not been previous¬ ly scheduled at the requested time, computer 28 determines whether a channel is available at the requested time. If yes, computer 28 selects an available channel and schedules this channel for transmission of the chosen program at the requested time. Computer 28 then presents confirmation of this to the customer service representative on the monitor associated with terminal 30 along with the channel number which is then communicated to the viewe . Computer 28 provides scheduling informa¬ tion as output by way of terminal 34. In the pre¬ ferred form, an operator reads the output from terminal 34 either presented on an aεεociated moni¬ tor or aε a hard copy print out. In response, the operator selects the chosen program from collection 20 and inserts into the appropriate VCR included in signal source 36 which is associated with the sche¬ duled channel. That is to say, each transmitter 22 is associated with a specific output channel and the information provided from computer 28 by way of terminal 34 instructs the operator which VCR is to be used for transmitting the chosen program at the requested time. In the alternative, system 10 could be arranged such that any unused signal transmitter 22 can be selected and then adjusted to transmit on the scheduled channel. At the requested time the operator activateε the appropriate VCR in order to transmit the program which is εcrambled and convert- 1 ed by unit 38 and presented on the selected channel to signal combiner 24 and onto land lineε 14. Computer 28, upon scheduling the chosen program at the requested time, also interacts with - ) computer 26 so that computer 26 sends appropriate decoder signals at the requested time and during transmission of the program to receiver 16 asεoci- ated with the requesting viewer. The decoder sig¬ nals include address signals specific to control 10 unit 16 associated with the requeεting viewer and promptε control unit 42 to descramble the chosen program in accordance with the descrambler signals aεεociated with the addreεε signal. In this way, the requeεting viewer can view the program on the ] c viewer-aεεociated televiεion 44. By εcra bling the trans iεεion, and by not providing a deεcrambling εignal to other receiverε, εubscriberε other than the requesting viewer are prevented from intelli¬ gible viewing of the chosen program. Upon transmission of the chosen program at 0 the requested time, billing and address computer 26 is programmed to automatically add the specified program charge to the requesting viewer's monthly bill. If there are no available channels at the 5 requested time, computer 28 is preferably programmed to determine the nearest available time frame during which a channel is available or to determine the nearest available time when the chosen program is already scheduled for transmission. This informa- 0 tion is then preεented to the customer service representative on terminal 30 who in turn communi¬ cates this information to the requesting viewer who may thereupon select one of the alternative times. For example, if the requesting viewer wishes to see 5 a very popular program at a certain time, and all of the channels are already εcheduled for that time, none of which include that chosen program, an unused channel may be available shortly before or after the requested time or the chosen program may be already be rescheduled at a . nearby time whereupon the re¬ queεting viewer can select one of these. As diεcuεεed above, scheduling computer 28 is programmed to ensure that the viewer's identifi- cation number matches the name of the requesting viewer, or the requeεting viewer's addresε, and so forth. As a further check, computer 28 can be pro¬ grammed to also include the requeεting viewer'ε telephone number, and upon being provided with thiε information, can double check this against the confidential identification number and the request¬ ing viewer's name and addresε. Thiε provideε addi¬ tional aεεurance that unauthorized perεonε do not schedule programs which would be billed against another subscriber's account. As those skilled in the art will appreci¬ ate, the requirement for a customer service repre¬ sentative to answer telephone 32 can be eliminated by the provision of a so-called "auto-dial" device which would allow the requesting viewer to communi- cate directly with scheduling computer 28 by provid¬ ing appropriate encoded signals such as those pro¬ vided by buttons 46 as touch-tone signals from telephone handset 18. Such systems are well known to those skilled in the art and are commonly used in banking εerviceε whereby customers can conduct transactions with their financial accounts. Such systems often include voice response systems which can be incorporated in computer 28 to provide verbal messages by way of synthesized voice or prerecorded verbal messages. The requeεting viewer can respond to inquirieε by the computer by entering the appro¬ priate codes on push buttons 46. Such an intercon¬ nection with computer 28 by way of terminal 30 is indicated by the dashed lineε 48. Those skilled in the art will also appre¬ ciate that the information from the requeεting viewer can be communicated to central unit 12 by using land lines 14 such as with an interactive cable system. Such systems are well known such aε those described in U.S. Patent Nos 4,290,142, 4,408,345, and 4,710,955 which are hereby incorpor¬ ated by reference. As discussed above in connection with U.S. Patent No. 4,506,387, program collection 20 can include programs stored in electronic memory. If such is preferred, computer 28 can be connected directly with collection 20 as represented by line 50. In addition, collection 20 can be directly coupled with signal sources 36 aε illustrated by lineε 52. With εuch an arrangement, the requirement for an operator to phyεically εelect the programs from collection 20 and in to insert them in the appropriate VCR is eliminated. That is to say, upon instructions from scheduling computer 28, collection 20 is operable to cause the chosen program to be tranεmitted directly to .the appropriate signal source 36 for the scheduled channel at the requeεted time. While the present invention is discussed in the environment of a conventional CATV system using coaxial cables such aε land lineε 14, the preεent invention iε also useful it the context wherein land lineε 14 are fiber optic cables or telephone lineε. Fiber optic cables have the capa- bility of carrying many more channels than a coaxial cable with repeaters spaced further apart and with somewhat greater immunity to external noise. In such a system, conventional telephone communication may also be provided over such a fiber optic cable or, in the alternative, a separate key pad, key¬ board, or the like can be included aε part of re¬ ceiver 16 whereby the requeεting viewer can enter data representative of the chosen program and requested time for transmission over the land lines 14 directly to computer 28. A typical cable television system using a coaxial cable as a trunk line may have upwards of fifty channels unused for regularly scheduled trans- miεεionε. With the potential for a thousands of receivers connected to ' the system, fifty unused channelε may not be adequate to supply the demand viewer-chosen program viewing. It εhould be appre¬ ciated, however, that in this example, fifty avail¬ able channelε can still satisfy the program choice demands of many thousands of εubscriberε. For example, fifty channelε transmitting the fifty most popular programs of the day may satisfy up to 80% of the program requests. It would not be unexpected that many subscriberε may request the most popular program. Thiε, coupled with the fact that all of the subscriberε will not likely be requesting movies at the same time, may allow fifty available channels to serve many subscriberε. Neverthelesε, there may be εome upper limit aε to the number of εubεcribers that the available channels can adequately serve. In order to provide the optimum service to the εubεcriberε in a system, the present invention encompasεeε the configuration aε illuεtrated in Fig. 2. A typical CATV system includes a head end 52 at which the tranεmitted program originates and which in turn transmits the programs on the various channelε by way of land lines 14. In the preferred embodiment ' -> aε illuεtrated in Fig. 2, land lines 14 are further deεignated to include a plurality of εectionε of which sections 54 and 56 are illustrated. Each sec¬ tion 54, 56 includes a reεpective subset 58 and 60 of receivers respectively coupled thereto. Each 10 section 54, 56 and so forth is respectively coupled to the remaining portions of land lineε 14 at a respective node or juncture 62, 64. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a central unit iε provided for each 15 subsection. Two such central units 12 and 66 are illustrated and are respectively coupled via lines 68 and 70 with reεpective sectionε 54 and 56. Furthermore, reεpective blocking devices 72 and 74 are provided at junctureε 62 and 64 reεpectively. Blocking deviceε 72 and 74 are preferably 20 low pass filters which allow transmisεions from head end 52 tranεmitted at the lower frequency channelε to pass unimpeded therethrough. Viewer-chosen programming is preferably tranεmitted at the higher frequency channels directly to the reεpective εec¬ 25 tionε 54, 56. Blocking deviceε 72 and 74 prevent transmission of these higher frequency channelε beyond their respective sections so that they do not interfere with one another. That iε to say, each program unit 12 and 66 can broadcast viewer-chosen 0 programs on the same channel frequencies but the εectionε are iεolated from one another by the block¬ ing deviceε. Sections of land lineε 14 can be identi¬ fied and deεignated as deεired by the proper place- 5 ment of a blocking device such that each program unit can adequately serve the program requests of the viewers associated with the subset of receivers included in each subsection. For example, if a CATV system has 50,000 subscriberε, and it iε determined that fifty channelε can adequately satisfy the viewer-chosen program requests of 10,000 viewers, five sections of 10,000 receivers each would be deεignated with a blocking device installed at the juncture between each designated section and the remaining portions of the land lines. In thiε way, tranεmissionε produced by separate central units on the same channelε to εeparate εectionε would not interfere with one another. Thiε arrangement effec- tively multiplies the number of available channelε for viewer-chosen programs. As preferred, central units 12, 66 and so forth, are located in physical proximity with head end 52 to take advantage of already existing equip¬ ment. It should be appreciated, however, that even with multiple central units, multiple scheduling computers, billing, and address computers may not be needed. That is to say, a single set of appropri¬ ately selected computers can serve all of the cen¬ tral units. Additionally, economy of a scale may dictate that all of the central units use a common program collection 20 in order to minimize the size of the inventory. Furthermore, the various program units may also share a common set of incoming tele¬ phone lines for communicating with requesting view- ers. Aε an alternative, however, and depending upon the configuration of the CATV network and the econo icε involved, it may be deεirable to locate a totally independent and free-εtanding program unit phyεically adjacent its aεεociated εection of the land lineε or phyεically adjacent another location such aε the central adminεtrative office of the CATV transmission syεte . That iε to εay, thoεe skilled -> in the art will appreciate that the physical loca¬ tion of the program unit and whether multiple pro¬ gram units can use common equipment is a matter of design choice dictated by technology, economics, and so forth. 10 Those skilled in the art will also appre¬ ciate that blocking deviceε 62, 64, and εo forth may include diεtribution repeaterε or amplifierε which are designed to amplify the frequency channels emanating from head end, but by their nature inher- 1c ently block passage of the higher frequency channelε from the various sectionε to the remaining portionε of land lines 14. This can be implemented by coupl¬ ing line 68, immediately "downstream" of the repeat¬ er nearest juncture 62. Other repeaters downstream of thiε blocking repeater receive and amplify all 0 the incoming tranεmiεsions including the transmiε- sionε from the head end and those injected at junc¬ ture 62. As εhould now be apparent from the de- εcription above, the present invention allows a - J requesting viewer to choose a program for viewing at a requested time on the television receiver associ¬ ated with the requesting viewer. The convenience provided thereby eliminates the need for the viewer to drive to a video store to pickup a chosen movie 0 on video tape and to again repeat the trip to return the movie. Additionally, the present invention mini¬ mizes the risk that the viewer will be unable to view the chosen program at the viewer requested 5 time. This risk is minimized for two reasons. First, the preferred embodiment hereof designates sections of the land lineε which are matched from a capacity εtandpoint with itε associated program unit in order to satisfy the demands of the viewers associated therewith. Secondly, the present inven¬ tion allows aε many viewerε aε are connected to the εyεtem to chooεe the same program at the same time. This is because once the chosen program is scheduled for transmission on a particular channel, additional viewerε can be added simply by tranεmitting the appropriate deεcrambling signals to the requesting viewer's receiver. In thiε way, many viewerε can chooεe the currently most popular program rather than just a few as determined by the number of caεεette copies available • as with prior art video stores. The preεent invention also avoids the need for premium rental space in which to store a large inventory of programs and eli inateε the many dupli- cationε of inventory carried by the many video stores in a territory. Having thus described the preferred em¬ bodiments of the present invention, the following is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

Claims: Claimε 1. A method of operating a televiεion tranεmiεεion system using land lines for tranεmit- ting televiεion programε for reception by a plural¬ ity of receivers coupled with land lineε for viewing the programε on the receiverε by viewerε reεpective- ly associated therewith, the system including means for εelectively preventing intelligible viewing of 0 certain programε by certain receiverε, said method comprising the εtepε of: providing a collection of εtored programε εtored on a medium allowing εelective reproduction and real-time tranεmiεsion of 5 εaid εtored programε over the land lineε; selecting a prospective chosen program from said collection for tranεmiεsion at a requested time in responεe to a request therefor from a requesting viewer; transmitting said chosen program in real-time 0 over the land lines at said requeεted time for reception by and viewing on a receiver associated with εaid requeεting viewer; and preventing intelligible viewing of εaid chosen -> program at εaid requested time on receiv¬ ers other than said receiver associated with εaid requesting viewer. 0 2. The method as set forth in claim 1, the εyεtem including — scrambler means operably coupled with εaid land lineε for selectively εcrambling the 5 transmisεion of certain of the program tranεmiεεionε in order to prevent intelli¬ gible viewing thereof on the receiverε, a plurality of control units respectively corresponding to and operably- associated 10 with the receivers and operably coupled with the land lines, each control unit being operable for receiving decoder εignals and in response thereto for selec¬ tively descrambling certain ones of the -ι r program transmiεεionε for allowing intel¬ ligible viewing thereof on the associated receiver, and decoder signal means operably coupled with the land lines and operable for selectively transmitting decoder εignals for reception 0 by the receivers in order to allow intel¬ ligible viewing of certain ones of the programs on selected ones of the receiv¬ erε, said method further including the εtepε of — 5 εcrambling the transmisεion of εaid chosen program in order to prevent intelligible viewing thereof on the receiverε, and transmitting decoder εignalε for receipt by εaid receiver associated with said re- 30 questing viewer in order to allow intel¬ ligible viewing of εaid chosen program thereon. 35 3. The method as set forth in claim 1, the system including means for simultaneouεly tranε- mitting a plurality of programε on a respective plurality of identifible channelε, the receiverε being operable for tuning to a εelected channel, εaid method further including the steps of — transmitting said chosen program during said requeεted time over a εelected channel, and communicating the identity of εaid selected channel only to said requesting viewer. 4. The method as set forth in claim 2, the εyεtem including means for transmitting a plu¬ rality of programs on a respective plurality of identifible channels, the control units being oper- able for tuning to a selected channel, the decoder signalε including addreεs signalε reεpectively specific to the control units and descrambler sig¬ nalε respectively asεociated with the addreεε sig¬ nals and respectively specific to identify selected transmisεions each control unit being responsive to specific addreεε εignalε and the deεcrambler εignals associated therewith for descrambling program trans- miεεionε on the channelε identified by the deεcram¬ bler εignalε, said method further including the steps of — selecting a channel for transmission, transmitting said chosen program during εaid requested time on said selected channel, communicating the identity of εaid εelected channel only to εaid requeεting viewer, tranεmitting address signalε specific to the control unit associated, with the_ requeεt¬ ing viewer'ε receiver and tranεmitting associated descrambler signals specific to identify said selected channel. 5. The method aε set forth in claim 1, further including the stepε of — identifying a εection of the land lines having a subset of receivers operably coupled 5 thereto wherein said subεet includes a plurality of receiverε less than the total number of receiverε included in the sys¬ tem, and remaining portions of the land lineε having a plurality of receiverε 10 other than said subset coupled thereto, transmitting εaid chosen program over said section of the land lines, identifying a juncture between said section and said remaining portion, and -c preventing transmisεion of said chosen program beyond the juncture from εaid section to εaid remaining portion by uεe of a block¬ ing device located at said juncture. 6. The method aε set forth in claim 1, 0 further including the steps of — providing computer means operable for receiving from εaid requesting viewer encoded sig¬ nals representative of said chosen pro¬ gram, said requested time, and the iden¬ 5 tity of said receiver asεociated with said requeεting viewer, εaid selecting step including the εtep of selecting said chosen program from said collection in response to said encoded 0 εignalε from εaid requeεting viewer. 1 . The method aε set forth in claim 1, said encoded εignals including telephone touch-tone signalε. 5 8. The method as set forth in claim 6, further including the εtep of providing εaid comput¬ er means with voice interaction capability and using said computer for providing voice communication to ^ said requesting viewer. 9. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the stepε of providing εcheduling computer means operable for scheduling multiple 10 program choices and multiple requested ti eε. 10. The method aε set forth in claim 9, further including the stepε ' of — providing computer means for providing billing 1 c - information correlated with the requeεting viewer'ε choεen program, and providing a bill to εaid requeεting viewer correεponding to εaid choεen program. 11. The method aε set forth in claim 1, 0 further including the step of providing electronic memory means having εaid collection εtored therein. 12. The method aε εet forth in claim 1, the land lineε including coaxial cableε. 5 13. The method as εet forth in claim 1, the land lineε including fiber optic cables. 0 35 14. In a televiεion tranεmission system using land lineε for transmitting programs for reception by a plurality of television receivers coupled with the land lineε for viewing of the ^ programs on the receiverε by viewerε respectively aεεociated therewith, and including communicating meanε for communicating information aε encoded signalε over the land lineε from said viewerε, the improvement compriεing: 10 a collection of εtored programε stored on a medium allowing selective reproduction and real-time transmiεsion over the land lines for reception and viewing thereof by selected receivers; -, _■ computer means operably coupled with the com¬ municating means for receiving encoded signalε from a requeεting viewer, said encoded signalε being repreεentative of a requeεting viewer'ε choice of a program chosen from said collection and εaid 20 requeεting viewer's requested time for viewing of said chosen program on a re¬ ceiver associated with said requesting viewer and for providing output informa¬ tion representative thereof; ^ selecting means operably asεociated with εaid collection and εaid computer means and responsive to said output information for selecting said chosen program from εaid collection; and 30 tranεmitting meanε operably aεsociated with and responεive to εaid εelecting meanε for tranεmitting εaid choεen program over the land lineε at εaid requested time for reception by and viewing on said requeεt- 35 ing viewer's receiver. 15. The apparatuε as εet forth in claim 14, the communicating means including telephone lines, the encoded signals including touch-tone εignalε, εaid computer meanε including meanε for providing voice communication to said requeεting viewer over the telephone lineε. 16. The apparatuε aε εet forth in claim 15, the εyεtem including meanε for tranεmitting programs on a reεpective plurality of channels, said computer means including means for sche¬ duling one of the channels for tranεmiε- εion of εaid choεen program thereon and including meanε for providing voice co - munication over the telephone lineε iden¬ tifying the channel on which εaid choεen program iε to be tranεmitted to the re¬ queεting viewer. - I ' ¬ ll . In a televiεion transmisεion εyεtem using land lines for transmitting programs for reception by a plurality of television receiverε coupled with land lineε for viewing of the programε on the receivers by viewerε reεpectively aεεociated therewith, the system further including communicat¬ ing means for receiving information over land lineε from the viewerε, the land lineε including a εection thereof having a εubεet of the receiverε coupled therewith wherein said subset includes a plurality of receiverε less than the total number of receivers included in the εyεtem, the remaining portion of the land lineε having a plurality of receivers other than the εubεet coupled therewith, the εection and the remaining portion being coupled with one another at a juncture, the improvement compriεing: a collection of εtored programε εtored on a medium allowing εelective reproduction and real-time tranεmisεion thereof over the land lines for reception and viewing thereof by εelected receivers; receiving means operably asεociated with the communicating meanε for receiving informa¬ tion from a requeεting viewer, εaid infor¬ mation including a regueεting viewer's choice of a program chosen from said collection and a .requeεted time for view¬ ing of εaid program on a receiver aεεoci¬ ated with εaid requeεting viewer, εaid asεociated receiver being included in the εubεet of receivers; selecting means operably associated with εaid collection and operably aεεociated with and reεponsive to εaid receiving means for selecting εaid choεen program from εaid collection; transmitting meanε operably asεociated with said selecting means and coupled with the 5 subsection of the land lines for transmiε- sion of said chosen program at said re¬ queεted time for reception by and viewing one on said aεεociated receiverε; and blocking meanε located in the vicinity of the ]_0 juncture for preventing tranεmiεεion of the choεen program therebeyond from the section into the remaining portionε of the land lineε. 18. The apparatuε aε εet forth in claim 15 17, the εyεtem including meanε for simultaneously tranεmitting εelected programε over a reεpective plurality of channelε included in a εpecified group of channels, said transmitting means including means for 0 transmitting said chosen program on a εelected channel other than the channel included in said selected group of chan¬ nelε, said blocking meanε including structure allow- 25 ing passage of programs being tranεmitted on the channels included in the selected group and structure for preventing passage of transmissions on said selected channel from the section to the remaining portion 30 of the system. 35 19. The apparatus as εet forth in claim 18, εaid selected channel being at a relatively higher frequency than the channels in the specified group.

Inventors: DICKEY STEVEN R, MONSLOW H VINCENT, DICKEY, STEVEN, R., MONSLOW, H., VINCENT
Applicants: MONSLOW H VINCENT, MONSLOW, H., VINCENT
Application year: 1989
Main classification: H04N7
IPC codes: H04H1, H04N7