Unified parental locks
AssigneeGateway, Inc.
InventorsGary E. Sullivan, Kim C. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for controlling a plurality of parental control subsystems within an entertainment system is provided. The system includes a computer interfaced to a plurality of audio and/or audiovisual devices, wherein at least two of the audio and/or audiovisual devices within the system each comprise a native parental control subsystem or locking mechanism having adjustable parameters. A software locking mechanism operates the computer to allow a user to input one or more general parental control parameters and then sets the adjustable parameters of each native parental control subsystem within the system by mapping the parental control parameters onto each separate, native mechanisms for each device.
Claims25
A method for operating and controlling a plurality of parental control subsystems in an audiovisual system, wherein the audiovisual system has a computer and wherein said system is configurable by a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:
- interfacing one or more audio and/or audiovisual devices to said computer, wherein at least one of said audio and/or audiovisual devices comprises a native parental control subsystem having adjustable parameters;
- operating the computer to receive user input, said user input allowing a user to choose one or more general parental control parameters;
- and
- operating the computer to set the adjustable parameters of each native parental control subsystem within said system, wherein the adjustable control parameters of the native parental control system include a first parental control scheme and a second parental control scheme, the first parental control scheme being incompatible with the second parental control scheme, and wherein the control programming allows a user to choose general control parameters of the first parental control scheme and the second parental control scheme.
A method for operating and controlling a plurality of parental control subsystems in an audiovisual system, wherein the audiovisual system has a computer and wherein said system is configurable by a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:
- interfacing a plurality of audio and/or audiovisual devices to said computer, at least two of said audio and/or audiovisual devices comprising a native parental control subsystem having adjustable parameters;
- providing a questionnaire comprising one or more questions for collecting information about a user's desired level of parental control over said audio and/or audiovisual devices;
- asking one or more questions selected from said set of questions to collect said information;
- translating the information collected into device specific codes for each parental code subsystem;
- operating the computer to set the adjustable parameters of each native parental control subsystem within said system, wherein the adjustable control parameters of the native parental control system include a first parental control scheme and a second parental control scheme, the first parental control scheme being incompatible with the second parental control scheme, and wherein the control programming allows a user to choose general control parameters of the first parental control scheme and the second parental control scheme.
A method for operating and controlling a plurality of parental control subsystems in an audiovisual system, wherein the audiovisual system has a computer and wherein said system is configurable by a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:
- interfacing at least two audio and/or audiovisual devices to said computer, wherein said at least two audio and/or audiovisual devices include a native parental control subsystem having adjustable parameters, wherein a first audio and/or audiovisual device of the at least two audio and/or audiovisual devices include a first parental control scheme and a second audio and/or audiovisual device of the at least two audio and/or audiovisual devices include a second parental control scheme, the first parental control scheme being incompatible with the second parental control scheme;
- operating the computer to receive user input, said user input allowing a user to choose general parental control parameters;
- and
- operating the computer to set the adjustable parameters of each native parental control subsystem subsystems of the at least two audio and/or audiovisual devices within said system based on the received user input choosing the one or more general parental control parameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.