VCR with cable tuner control

In a television viewing system of the type including a television receiver that receives control signals, a first hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said television receiver, a first associated unit that provides video signals to said television receiver, and a second hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said first associated unit, wherein said first associated unit and said second hand-held remote transmitter constitute a master unit and said television receiver and first hand-held remote transmitter constitute a slave unit, said master unit being trainable to transmit control signals to said slave unit, the method of training said master unit as to the required control signal codes for transmission to the slave unit comprising the steps of:

• generating displays on the screen of the television receiver requesting the operator to use the first hand-held transmitter of the slave unit to transmit at least certain control signals to said master unit;
• receiving said control signals at the master unit from the first hand-held transmitter of the slave unit;
• and
• establishing a conversion memory within said master unit, based on such received control signals, to enable said master unit to transmit control signals to the slave unit.

In a television viewing system of the type including a television receiver that receives control signals, a first hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said television receiver, a video recorder/player that provides video signals to said television receiver, a second hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said video recorder/player, a tunable video signal receiver and scrambled signal descrambler that provides video signals to at least said television receiver, and a third hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said descrambler, wherein said video recorder/player and said second hand-held remote transmitter constitute a master unit and said descrambler and third hand-held remote transmitter constitute a slave unit, said master unit being trainable to transmit control signals to said slave unit, the method of training said master unit as to the required control signal codes for transmission to the slave unit comprising the steps of:

• generating displays on the screen of the television receiver requesting the operator to use the third hand-held remote transmitter of the slave unit to transmit at least certain control signals to the master unit;
• receiving said control signals at the master unit from the third hand-held transmitter of the slave unit;
• and
• establishing a conversion memory within said master unit, based on such received control signals, to enable said master unit to transmit control signals to the slave unit.

In a television viewing system of the type including a television receiver that receives control signals, a first hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said television receiver, a video recorder/player that provides video signals to said television receiver, a second hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said video recorder/player, a tunable video signal receiver and scrambled signal descrambler that provides video signals to at least said television receiver, and a third hand-held remote transmitter that transmits control signals to at least said descrambler, wherein said descrambler and said third hand-held remote transmitter constitute a master unit and said video recorder/player and said second hand-held remote transmitter constitute a slave unit, said master unit being trainable to transmit control signals to said slave unit, the method of training said master unit as to the required control signal codes for transmission to the slave unit comprising the steps of:

• generating displays on the screen of the television receiver requesting the operator to use the second hand-held transmitter of the slave unit to transmit at least certain control signals to said master unit;
• receiving said control signals at the master unit from the second hand-held transmitter of the slave unit;
• and
• establishing a conversion memory within said master unit, based on such received control signals, to enable said master unit to transmit control signals to the slave unit.

In a television viewing system including a television receiver and an associated unit controlled by a hand-held remote-control signal transmitter, the associated unit being connected to said television receiver to provide a video signal thereto, a master unit, comprising:

• video display generation means operative to display a message on said television receiver requesting a user to transmit a remote-control signal to said master unit using the hand-held remote-control signal transmitter of said associated unit;
• a remote-control signal receiver to receive said transmitted signal;
• a remote-control signal transmitter;
• and
• a controller in electrical communication with said remote-control signal receiver and transmitter, said controller being operative to interpret said received signal, enabling said master unit to control the operation of said associated unit using said remote-control signal transmitter.

In a television viewing system including a television receiver and a system component responsive to a hand-held remote-control transmitter, a master component, comprising:

• a remote-control signal transmitter;
• a remote-control signal receiver;
• video display generation means;
• and
• a controller in communication with said remote-control signal transmitter and receiver and said video display generation means, said controller being operative to perform the following functions:
• cause said video display generation means to display a request on said television receiver instructing a viewer to use said hand-held remote transmitter to transmit a control signal associated with the operation of said system component,
• receive and interpret said control signal, enabling said master unit to assume control over the operation of said system component using said remote-control signal transmitter.