Communications system having receivers which can be addressed in selected classes
US4916539A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 14, 1989 |
| Grant date | Apr 10, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 14, 2009 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N7/162
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A communications system having programmable, addressable receivers that receive, store, process and send digital and conventional video, audio and control signals for use in, among other things, a cable video network. Receivers in this system may receive conventional audio and composite video and digital data signals from sources such as a satellite transponder and video and audio from local sources. The digital data may be processed into textual video data by character generation techniques, as may be other digital data received from a local keyboard, local weather sensors or other digital data communications interfaces. The receivers may be addressed in units or groups for purposes of receiving individually, locally or regionally tailored text information and are typically controlled simultaneously from one control source. The receivers may also be addressed and controlled in classes that do not correspond to such hierarchical structure. The system of the preferred embodiment is particularly well adapted for a weather cable network, since it fulfills the needs of data consumers throughout a large geographic area to have continual, current local and national weather information.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.