Bilateral communications system for distributing commerical and premium video signaling on an accountable basis
AssigneeJerrold Electronics Corporation
InventorAndrew Wayne Barnhart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bilateral communications system, as for CATV application, distributes commercially available and premium video programming on a subscriber demand--directly accountable basis. At least the premium video programming is impressed on the cable in a frequency band and/or format not recoverable by a standard television receiver, absent receipt at a particular subscriber location of a reception-authorizing message from the system head end. A central processor at the system head end sequentially polls cable subscribers under stored program control, permitting bilateral digital communications between the subscriber and the head end.
Claims29
In combination, subscriber terminal means for selectively displaying one of plural video programs supplied thereto, each of the plural video programs occupying a differing, prescribed frequency allocation, a plural stage channel select shift register, means for loading a selected stage of said shift register with a predetermined binary character, for selecting a particular one of said plural video programs for viewing, a plural stage channel suthorization shift register, means for loading said channel authorization shift register to enable reception of selected of said plural video programs, plural coincidence logic means each connected to a differing, associated pair of the outputs of one of said channel select shift register stages and one of said channel authorization shift register stages, and video selection means responsive to the outputs of said coincidence logic means for selectively enabling reception of a particular one of the plural video programs wherein said subscriber terminal means includes channel selector, channel control, and subscriber control modules, each of said modules including a data transceiver, data bus interconnecting means for serially-loop connecting the transceivers in each of said channel control, subscriber control and channel selector modules, each of said modules including means for loading digital messages into the transceiver there contained and means for extracting messages therefrom, and means for serially propagating messages around the digital transmission loop comprising said module transceivers and
In combination in a two-way CATV system, a cable, head end mens connected to the cable for supplying thereto plural video programs and serial data, at least one subscriber terminal connected to said cable, said subscriber terminal including modem means for bilateral digital signaling with said head end via said cable, plural transceivers, means for circulating messages between said transceivers, first register means for storing digital messages transmitted to said subscriber terminal from said head end, gating means for loading a selected one of said transceivers from said first register means, seecond register means for receiving information from one of said transceivers distinct from said transceiver selectively loaded by said first register means, subscriber channel request means for entering a requested video program channel, and video program converter means responsive to a subscriber requested channel and to a message transmitted by said head end for operatively enabling reception of the requested program.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.