Transaction based interactive television system
US5343239A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 20, 1991 |
| Grant date | Aug 30, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 20, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA63F2300/532
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An interactive television system where interactive information is inserted in the vertical blanking interval of a standard television signal. The signal is received and decoded by a stetop decoder which sends the decoded signal via an infrared signal to a handheld device. The viewer using the handheld device can interact with a game, sports, or education event or other presentation on the television. The system includes a proprietary high level command language and programmer (PIU) tables which are maintained in the memory of the handheld device. The PIU tables store the transactions of the various events presented on the television. The transactions are sent from the insertion system to the decoder throughout the broadcast of the television program. Thus, for a sports event with interleaved commercials, one or more of the PIU tables would be used to store a collection of transactions used for the main event and one or more additional PIU tables are used for storing transactions for each of the interleaved commercials. This system allows a viewer to enter and exit any event at any time wit hot having to wait for information to be downloaded and without losing any scores. Further, t…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.