Patent ID: RE44026

Claim:
A control method for permitting a viewer to view a specific program, the method comprising: receiving at a program viewing controller at least one transport stream from a broadcast service, the program viewing controller being configured to selectively decode and output programs of the at least one transport stream according to a broadcast time set by the broadcast service, the received at least one transport stream including information indicative of the specific program; selecting the specific program via the program viewing controller; inputting, to the program viewing controller, a viewer ID and viewer password associated with a person selecting the specific program, the inputted ID and viewer password indicating to an authorized person a potential viewer of the selected program; transmitting, according to said selecting, the inputted viewer ID and viewer password and the information indicative of the specific program from the program viewing controller to a communication device of the authorized person, and using the transmitted information to request via the communication device permission for the viewer to view the specific program of said selecting; receiving at the program viewing controller information from the communication device in response to said transmitting, the received information indicating whether to permit viewing of the specific program; and determining, based upon the received information, whether to decode and output the specific program at the broadcast time.