Patent ID: 8108891

Claim:
A method of supervising personal exposure to a consumer electronics device having a V-chip, the method comprising: receiving a program signal suitable for conversion by the consumer electronics device into user discernible information; receiving a content-based indicator indicative of the content of the user discernible information and timing information indicative of a reference time; selecting a first content-based specification and a first finite time range specification associated with the first content-based specification, wherein the first finite time range specification is less than twenty-four hours in duration; selecting a second content-based specification different from the first content-based specification and a second finite time range specification associated with the second content-based specification, wherein the second finite time range specification is less than twenty-four hours in duration and encompassing a different time range than first finite time range specification; comparing the reference time with the first and second finite time range specifications; allowing user review of user discernible information without user input and without comparison of the received content-based indicator with a content-based specification if the reference time is outside the first and second finite time range specifications; comparing the received content-based indicator with the first content-based specification when the reference time falls within the first finite time range specification and with the second content-based specification when the reference time falls within the second finite time range specification; and impairing the program signal if the received content-based indicator exceeds the first content-based specification associated with the first finite time range specification when the reference time falls within the first finite time range specification or exceeds the second content-based specification associated with the second finite time range specification when the reference time falls within the second finite time range specification.