System and method for subscriber controlled signal blocking
US6100916A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 20, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 8, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 20, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N21/458
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A technique for the blocking of individual programs and/or portions of programs transmitted in a source signal, e.g., a cable television signal. In particular, individual programs and/or portions of programs within a class of programs are blocked, while allowing for the viewing of certain other programs even within the same programming class. The transmitted source signal contains individual programs having a transparent program identifier and/or transparent content identifier associated with individual programs in the source signal transmission. As the source signal enters, e.g., a particular subscriber location, the source signal is monitored in accordance with a program viewing profile defined by the subscriber. That is, particular ones of the programs and/or portion thereof available in the source signal transmission supplied to the subscriber can either be unblocked, i.e., viewable, or blocked, i.e., unviewable, at the discretion of the subscriber. The blocking of particular ones of the programs and/or portion thereof is accomplished as a function of the transparent program identifier and/or transparent content identifier associated with a program which is embedded in the vide…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.