Apparatus and method for improved parental control of television use
AssigneeGemstar Development Corporation
InventorsHenry C. Yuen, Roy J. Mankovitz, Daniel S. Kwoh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for parental control of television programs. Program schedule information including program titles are stored in a memory and displayed on a monitor. Compressed code is entered for the programs to be blocked. Alternatively, one or more program titles are selected from the displayed program schedule information for blocking by a parental control circuitry connected to a controller.
Claims17
A system for exercising access control over a television program comprising:
- a memory for storing television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;
- a monitor for displaying some of the schedule information including program titles;
- an input device for selecting one of the displayed program titles for viewing a television program represented by the selected program title;
- and
- a parental control circuit for blocking the selected television program from being viewed as a function of the television program schedule information.
A method for controlling access to television programs comprising the steps of:
- displaying television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs on a monitor;
- marking a program title from the displayed schedule information;
- and
- blocking a television program represented by the marked program title from being displayed on the monitor as a function of the television program schedule information for a selected title.
A system for exercising access control over a television program comprising:
- a memory for storing television schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;
- a monitor for displaying some of the schedule information including program titles;
- an input device for selecting one of the displayed program titles for viewing a television program represented by the selected program title;
- and
- a parental control circuit for blocking a plurality of program scenes from the selected television program from being viewed as a function of information retrieved from a television signal.
A method for controlling access to television programs comprising the steps of:
- storing television program schedule information including program titles for a plurality of television programs;
- displaying the television program schedule information including program titles on a monitor;
- selecting a program title from the displayed schedule information;
- and
- blocking a program scene from a television program represented by the selected program title from being displayed on the monitor as a function of the information retrieved from a television signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.