Patent · US Expired

Enabling and/or disabling selected types of broadcast triggers

US6460180B1 · kind B1 · utility

182Cited by
13References
40Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 20, 1999
Grant dateOct 1, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 20, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/8586
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Information from an information resource may be displayed with television video in a synchronized fashion. A trigger, broadcast along with the television video, identifies the resource and indicates how information from the resource should display. When a trigger is received, the receiver unit determines whether a rule stored in the receiver unit applies to the trigger. For example, if the rule applies, the receiver unit may take a predetermined action, or if the rule does not apply, the rule may have no effect and the receiver unit may act upon the trigger in a normal or default fashion. Based on one or more rules, the receiver unit may ignore certain triggers, but not others. Rules can be automatically loaded into the receiver unit on power-up by one-way broadcast communication, from a permanent storage device, or by downloading from the Internet. The rules can be updated periodically.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.