Method and system for remote reporting, particularly for pay television billing

A method for providing impulse purchase capability in a subscription television system in which access to information transmissions from a remote location to a subscriber location is at least limited to subscribers requesting access, comprising the steps of:

• (a) transmitting within at least one allocated television channel frequency band, together with the information transmissions a cost signal indicating the magnitude of the charge for access to the information in the transmissions;
• (b) storing, at the subscriber location a credit indicating an amount available for future payment of charges for access to information in the transmissions;
• (c) comparing the magnitude of the charge contained in the cost signal with the magnitude of the stored credit;
• and,
• (d) enabling access by the subscriber to the information in the transmissions associated with the cost signal in response to the relative magnitudes of the charge and the stored credit.

A system for providing subscription services involving transmissions from a remote location to a subscriber location and for which payment is required for access comprising:

• (a) means for transmitting a cost signal containing a charge associated with the transmissions;
• (b) means for storing a credit at the subscriber loca- tion;
• (c) means for comparing the magnitude of the charge contained in the cost signal with the magnitude of the stored credit;
• and,
• (d) means for enabling access by the subscriber to the transmissions associated with the cost signal in response to the relative magnitudes of the charge and the stored credit.

A system for providing impulse purchase capability in a subscription television system in which access to information transmissions from a remote location to a subscriber location is at least limited to subscribers requesting access, the system comprising:

• (a) means for transmitting within at least one allocated television channel frequency band, together with the information transmissions a cost signal indicating the magnitude of the charge for access to the information in the transmissions;
• (b) means for storing, at the subscriber location a credit indicating an amount available for future payment of charges for access to information in the transmissions;
• (c) means for comparing the magnitude of the charge contained in the cost signal with the magnitude of the stored credit;
• and,
• (d) means for enabling access by the subscriber to the information in the transmissions associated with the cost signal in response to the relative magnitudes of the charge and the stored credit.

A system for remotely billing a subscriber to a service for services requested by the subscriber during a billing period comprising:

• decoder means at the subscriber location for accessing the services;
• indicator means on said decoder means for indicating that a payment for requested services is due;
• means for automatically enabling said indicator means at the end of a billing period;
• and
• means remote from said subscriber location for transmitting data relating to payments for services received from the subscriber;
• said decoder means including means for disabling said indicator means in response to said transmitted data.

A method for remotely billing a subscriber to a service for services requested by the subscriber during a billing period comprising the steps of:

• automatically enabling an indicator at a subscriber location to indicate that a payment for requested services is due;
• crediting at a central location payments received from the subscriber;
• transmitting from the central location to the subscriber location data relating to the receipt of payments from the subscriber;
• and,
• disabling the indicator at the subscriber location in response to the transmitted data.

A method for providing subscription services to a subscriber in a system involving transmission from a remote location to a subscriber location wherein payment is required for access to the services, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) transmitting from the remote location a cost signal containing a charge associated with the subscription services;
• (b) accumulating and storing charges for each service accessed by the subscriber during a billing period;
• (c) transmitting credit data from the remote location to the subscriber location after the end of the billing period, the credit data containing a credit associated with the billing period;
• and
• (d) comparing the magnitude of the stored accumulated charges for the billing period with the transmitted credit in the credit data and enabling access by the subscriber to services subsequent to the magnitude comparison in response to the relative magnitudes of the stored accumulated charges and the credit.

A system for providing subscription services to a subscriber in a system involving transmissions from a remote location to a subscriber location wherein payment is required for access comprising:

• (a) means at the remote location for transmitting a cost signal containing a charge associated with the transmissions;
• (b) means for accumulating and storing charges for each service accessed by the subscriber during a billing period;
• (c) means for transmitting credit data from the remote location to the subscriber location after the end of the billing period, the credit data containing a credit associated with the billing period;
• and
• (d) means for comparing the magnitude of the stored accumulated charges comparing the magnitude of the stored accumulated charges for the billing period with the transmitted credit in the credit data and enabling access by the subscriber to services subsequent to the magnitude comparison in response to the relative magnitudes of the stored accumulated charges and the credit.

In a pay television system in which at least some individual programming may be selectively accessed by subscribers in return for a payment relating to such programming and wherein the identity of such programming accessed by a subscriber is desired, a method for identifying which of such programming has been assessed by a subscriber comprising the steps of:

• (a) transmitting data with such programming including at least the cost thereof;
• (b) accumulating data transmitted with such programming in response to access thereto by any subscriber to form a stored, unique code from which individual programs can be identified;
• (c) displaying said unique code to the subscriber at the time payment is required from the subscriber;
• (d) receiving said unique code from the subscriber at the time payment is made;
• and,
• (e) returning said unique code to the subscriber location and comparing the returned code with the stored, unique code in order to test the accuracy of the unique code received from the subscriber.