Patent ID: 6922843

Claim:
An interactive television system having user television equipment on which an interactive television application is at least partially implemented to provide parental control of television programming that is available for viewing by users without purchasing, said user television equipment, being configured to: support multiple user accounts using the interactive television application, wherein each of the user accounts has an associated personal identification code; set parental control criteria for each of the user accounts using the interactive television application; block the television programming that matches at least one of the parental control criteria; allow a user to view the blocked television programming by entering a personal identification code associated with one of the user accounts that has parental control criteria that permits viewing of the blocked television programming; track the blocked television programming that has been viewed based on the personal identification code that was entered to view the television programming; and display a log of blocked television programming that has been viewed without purchasing, wherein the log includes information on the multiple user accounts that are associated with the personal identification codes that were entered to view the blocked television programming and wherein the information on the multiple user accounts further includes account names that correspond to the personal identification codes that were entered to view the blocked television programming.