Customer premises equipment receives high-speed downstream data over a cable television system and transmits lower speed upstream signaling on a separate channel

Claim 2

A controller that receives packets of data transported via a cable television system, the controller comprising: a tuneable demodulator that demodulates radio frequency (RF) signals carried by a channel of said cable television system, said demodulator translating encoded packets of data carried as said RF signals into digitally formatted packets; receiver means coupled to said demodulator for identifying ones of said digitally formatted packets having a predetermined address associated with a user; means for transmitting data derived from said ones of digital formatted packets to a user's personal computer; means, coupled to said demodulator and responsive to control signals received from the user's personal computer, for controlling the RF channel to which said tunable demodulator is tuned to enable reception of encoded packets of data carried over an RF channel of said cable television system as selected by the control signals.

Claim 3

The controller according to claim 1 wherein said controlling means comprises means for receiving said control signals, for translating said control signals into selection signals that control the channel to which said tunable demodulator is tuned, and for transmitting said selection signals to said tunable demodulator.

Claim 4

A customer premises equipment which supports communications between a user and information providers, said equipment connected to a television system cable that supports high speed communication channels carrying information sent from the information providers and a lower speed transmission channel that carries user generated requests transmitted to the information providers, the lower speed transmission channel being a transmission medium physically separate from the transmission medium that transports the high speed cable transmission channel, the customer premises equipment comprising: a tunable demodulator that demodulates radio frequency (RF) signals carried by said high speed cable channel, said demodulator translating encoded packets of data carded as said RF signals into digitally formatted packets; receiver means coupled to said demodulator for identifying ones of said digitally formatted packets having a predetermined address associated with a user; a modem coupled to said lower speed transmission channel for transmitting requests and receiving control signals that identify one of said high speed channels which carry said ones of said digitally formatted packets; a personal computer means, coupled to said modem and operating under the control of a program, for effecting communications between the user and the information providers; means coupled to said receiver means for transmitting data derived from said ones of digitally formatted packets to said personal computer; said personal computer coupled to said demodulator and transmitting channel selection signals based on said control signals to said demodulator to control the RF channel to which said tunable demodulator is tuned, thus enabling reception of said ones of encoded packets over an RF channel determined by the control signals.

Claim 5

A customer premises equipment which supports communications between a user and information providers, said equipment connected to a television system cable that supports high speed communication channels carrying information sent from the information providers and a lower speed transmission channel that carries user generated requests transmitted to the information providers, the lower speed transmission channel being a transmission medium physically separate from the transmission medium that transports the high speed cable transmission channel, the customer premises equipment comprising: a tunable demodulator that demodulates radio frequency (RF) signals carried by said high speed cable channel, said demodulator translating encoded packets of data carded as said RF signals into digitally formatted packets; receiver means coupled to said demodulator for identifying ones of said digitally formatted packets having a predetermined address associated with a user; a modem coupled to said lower speed transmission channel for transmitting requests and receiving control signals that identify one of said high speed channels which carry said ones of said digitally formatted packets; a personal computer means, coupled to said modem and operating under the control of a program, for effecting communications between the user and the information providers; means coupled to said receiver means for transmitting data derived from said ones of digitally formatted packets to said personal computer; said personal computer coupled to said demodulator and transmitting channel selection signals based on said control signals to said demodulator to control the RF channel to which said tunable demodulator is tuned, thus enabling reception of said ones of encoded packets over an RF channel determined by the control signals.

Claim 6

The equipment according to claim 3 further comprising means connected to said personal computer means for translating said channel selection signals into demodulator control signals that control the channel to which said tunable demodulator is tuned, and for transmitting said demodulator control signals to said tunable demodulator.

Claim 9

The method according to claim 5 wherein said receiving step comprising receiving said control signals which are generated by apparatus not part of said customer premises equipment so that the tuning of the demodulator is controlled remote from the customer premises equipment.