Telephone-responsive device for muting the sound output of a television set

Claim 1

Apparatus responsive to the operation of a nearby telephone for muting the sound output of a television set, comprising; signal responsive means coupled to the telephone for detecting either a ringing signal or an off-hook condition of the telephone, and for producing an output signal in response thereto; remote-control means having an input coupled to said signal responsive means and responsive to an output signal therefrom for muting the sound output of the television set; and manually operable means for selectively disabling said signal responsive means to prevent the manually operable means from responding to an off-hook condition of the telephone while still permitting it to respond to a ringing signal.

Claim 10

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line and normally responsive to the operation of the telephone for supplying an activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the respectively different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; a dual inline switch having a plurality of switch members each manually settable to a selected 0 or 1 condition; said dual inline switch being so connected to said microchip circuit that a predetermined group of settings of said switch members may be chosen in order to select a particular one of said internal logic circuits that corresponds to the remote volume control coding of the selected television set, so that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the remote volume control coding for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone; and manually operable means for selectively superseding the normal operation of said signal detection means.

Claim 11

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line and normally responsive to the operation of the telephone for supplying an activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the respectively different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; a dual inline switch having a plurality of switch members each manually settable to a selected 0 or 1 condition; said dual inline switch being so connected to said microchip circuit that a predetermined group of settings of said switch members may be chosen in order to select a particular one of said internal logic circuits that corresponds to the remote volume control coding of the selected television set, so that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the remote volume control coding for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone; and manually operable means for selectively superseding the normal operation of said signal detection means.

Claim 12

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the selected television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means including a ring detection circuit and an off-hook detection circuit, coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line, and responsive to operation of the telephone for delivering the activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the respectively different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; a dual inline switch having a plurality of switch members each manually settable to a selected 0 or 1 condition; said dual inline switch being so connected to said microchip circuit that a predetermined group of settings of said switch members may be chosen in order to select a particular one of said internal logic circuits that corresponds to the remote volume control coding of the selected television set, so that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the remote volume control for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone; and manually operable switch means for selectively disabling said off-hook detection circuit.

Claim 13

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the selected television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means including a ring detection circuit and an off-hook detection circuit, coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line, and responsive to operation of the telephone for delivering the activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the respectively different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; a dual inline switch having a plurality of switch members each manually settable to a selected 0 or 1 condition; said dual inline switch being so connected to said microchip circuit that a predetermined group of settings of said switch members may be chosen in order to select a particular one of said internal logic circuits that corresponds to the remote volume control coding of the selected television set, so that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the remote volume control for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone; and manually operable switch means for selectively disabling said off-hook detection circuit.

Claim 14

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the selected television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means including a ring detection circuit and an off-hook detection circuit, coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line, and responsive to operation of the telephone for delivering the activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of permanently fixed internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; manually operable means for selectively generating a group of code settings which represent a desired one of said remote volume control codings; and means for applying said group of code settings to said microchip circuit such that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the desired one of said remote volume control codings for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone.

Claim 15

A device used cooperatively with a telephone and with a nearby television set selected from various makes of television sets that are responsive to remote volume control by infrared signals in accordance with respectively different volume control codings, for responding to a signal from the telephone and for automatically muting the sound output of the selected television set so long as the telephone is in use, comprising: a microchip circuit having an input, an output, and a logical clock for controlling its internal operation; an interrupt-request line coupled to said input of said microchip circuit for delivering an activating signal thereto; signal detection means including a ring detection circuit and an off-hook detection circuit, coupled both to the telephone and to said interrupt-request line, and responsive to operation of the telephone for delivering the activating signal to said interrupt-request line; infrared signal transmitting means connected to said output of said microchip circuit; said microchip circuit also having a plurality of permanently fixed internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to the different remote volume control codings of the various different makes of television sets; manually operable means for selectively generating a group of code settings which represent a desired one of said remote volume control codings; and means for applying said group of code settings to said microchip circuit such that said microchip circuit responds to an activating signal at said input thereof for producing at said output thereof a coded signal corresponding to the desired one of said remote volume control codings for the selected television set which is then transmitted through said infrared signal transmitting means to said selected television set and mutes the output sound volume thereof so long as an activating signal continues to be received from the telephone.