Back to results
US 4,395,740 AGranted
Apparatus and method for locating and presenting pre-recorded information
OwnerAubrey Yuen, William P. Battistainventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerAubrey Yuen, William P. Battistainventors
Estimating the term…
An apparatus and a method for locating and presenting pre-recorded information, and more particularly, locating and presenting any of a plurality of messages which are recorded on video medium such as video disc or video tape. In one aspect, the apparatus may adopt the form of an informational display system which provides information regarding consumer products or services. The apparatus includes an imput mechanism such as a plurality of manually operable imput switches, a video display screen and a controller, which controls a video tape unit in the apparatus for locating and presenting a selected message. In another aspect, the apparatus is designed to locate any of a plurality of messages pre-recorded on tape, such as video tape, in a relatively short search time. In this embodiment, the apparatus comprises a plurality of tape units including at least a first tape unit and a second tape unit. A separate tape is used for each tape unit, and essentially the same messages are recorded on each tape. A controller in the apparatus assigns to the first tape unit a first group of the messages which are to be located and presented and a second group of the messages which are to be located and presented to thereby reduce the amount of search time. Further, an initial start position is located intermediate and preferably midway between the first and last messages in each group assigned to each tape unit. When a selection is made, the tape unit having that selection in the assigned group will move the tape either to the right or left from the start position to the selected message. In this way, it is only necessary to move the tape a relatively short distance to the selected message.
An informational display system for use in a commercial establishment for providing promotional information regarding consumer products or consumer services to enable a potential purchaser to compare products or services and to determine which of the available products or services to purchase, said system comprising:
A system for presenting information pre-recorded on tape medium, said system comprising:
A system for locating and presenting any of a plurality of pre-recorded messages on video tape medium in a relatively short time period without the necessity of moving a tape for a distance in excess of half the length of the tape, said system comprising:
A method for addressably encoding addresses of a plurality of messages on a video tape medium into a memory of a video tape unit used to play the video tape medium to enable later selection and retrieving of said messages, said method comprising:
A method for locating and presenting messages on a tape medium, said method comprising:
A video tape comprising a tape medium having a plurality of messages pre-recorded thereon including a first measage and a last message and at least one message therebetween, a tape ready position intermediate the first and last messages on the tape and defining a position for the tape to be stationed when the ready position is adjacent to a tape reading member, a tape ready position indicating tone on each side of said ready position and being of a first frequency, a gap on each side of said ready position between each of the tape ready position indicating tones and said ready position, an end of message tone to identify the end of each message, and a fixed length gap preceeding each of the messages on the tape.
An informational display system for use in a commerical establishment for providing promotional information regarding consumer products or consumer service to enable a potential purchaser to compare products or services and to determine which of the available products or services to purchase, said system comprising:
An informational display system for use in a commercial establishment for providing promotional information regarding consumer products or consumer services to enable a potential purchaser to compare products or services and to determine which of the available products or services to purchase, said system comprising:
A system for presenting information pre-recorded on video tape medium, said system comprising:
A system for locating and presenting any of a plurality of pre-recorded messages on video tape medium in a relatively short time period without the necessity of moving a tape for a distance in excess of half the length of the tape, said system comprising:
An informational display system for use in a commercial establishment for providing promotional information regarding consumer products or consumer services to enable a potential purchaser to compare products or services and to determine which of the available products or services to purchase, said system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.