US5604528A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for providing periodic subscription television services
Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt LLC
•
Filing: 1994-05-09
•
Granted: 1997-02-18
•
Expires: 2014-05-09
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for providing periodic subscription television services comprises a way for subscribers who cannot afford the fees for full time television services such as a regular cable television service to obtain subscription service to a plurality of allocated channels on a periodic basis. The method comprises the steps of allocating channels to a periodic service offering and storing in memory of service denial apparatus service code data which represents the allocated channels. The service denial apparatus for providing periodic service comprises a service denial device such as a switch 389 or other circuit controlled by a controller 260 of service denial apparatus for periodically closing and opening service lines to the periodic service subscriber in accordance with predetermined periodic service intervals. For example, one periodic subscription television service offering may be a weekend service whereby the periodic service subscriber is connected to receive a predetermined plurality of channels from 6 PM on a Friday evening through 12 PM on a Sunday evening.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert J. Edwards
- 👤 Gregory S. Durden
- 👤 Himanshu R. Parikh
- 👤 Paul Borsetti, Jr.
- 👤 Vibha Rustagi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 05:31
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/16; H04N7/167; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/25; H04N21/258; H04N21/25808; H04N21/2585; H04N21/266; H04N21/26606; H04N21/40; H04N21/45; H04N21/462; H04N21/4623; H04N21/60; H04N21/61; H04N21/6106; H04N21/6143; H04N7/162; H04N7/163; H04N7/165; H04N7/1675; H04N7/173; H04N7/17309; H04N7/17318
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
147 words
A service denial apparatus for controlling service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising: a decoder for decoding communications received from a service provider of the subscription system, the communications including a first communication, a second communication and a third communication; a memory; service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber; and a control circuit for, storing a data code in the memory when the first communication is received, the data code representing a periodic service offering and also indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering, actuating the service denial circuitry to permit reception of service by the particular subscriber on the predetermined plurality of channels when the second communication is received, and actuating the service denial circuitry to deny reception of service by the particular subscriber when the third communications is received.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
147 words
A service denial apparatus for controlling service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising: a decoder for decoding communications received from a service provider of the subscription system, the communications including a first communication, a second communication and a third communication; a memory; service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber; and a control circuit for, storing a data code in the memory when the first communication is received, the data code representing a periodic service offering and also indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering, actuating the service denial circuitry to permit reception of service by the particular subscriber on the predetermined plurality of channels when the second communication is received, and actuating the service denial circuitry to deny reception of service by the particular subscriber when the third communications is received.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the service denial circuitry includes a switch for denying reception of service when a service denial switching state is selected.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
54 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the service denial circuitry includes a jamming circuit for jamming at least one channel of the predetermined plurality of channels when a service denial switching state is selected, the reception of each channel of the at least one channel by the particular subscriber being unauthorized.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication, the second communication, and the third communication are intended only for the particular subscriber.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
195 words
Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider, a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider, a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber, selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a first communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering and responsive to a second communication at a first predetermined time actuating the selective service denial circuitry to permit reception of service by the particular subscriber on the predetermined plurality of channels and, responsive to a third communication at a second predetermined time actuating the service denial circuitry to deny reception of service by the particular subscriber.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
195 words
Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider, a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider, a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber, selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a first communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering and responsive to a second communication at a first predetermined time actuating the selective service denial circuitry to permit reception of service by the particular subscriber on the predetermined plurality of channels and, responsive to a third communication at a second predetermined time actuating the service denial circuitry to deny reception of service by the particular subscriber.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second and third communications each comprise an address representing a plurality of subscribers.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first communication comprises an address uniquely representing the particular subscriber.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first communication comprises an address representing a plurality of subscribers.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first communication comprises at least one data bit representing the status of the periodic service offering.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
19 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service denial apparatus is located external to subscriber premises.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
20 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the service denial apparatus is shared by a plurality of subscribers.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first and second predetermined times define a time interval for a particular periodic service offering.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
21 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the time interval comprises at least one selected day of the week.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
45 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the selective service denial circuitry comprises a switch for denying reception of service and a jamming circuit for jamming channels which a subscriber is not authorized to receive when a service denial switching state is selected.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
60 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the memory comprises non-volatile memory for storing a status bit representing an intended switching state of the switch and random access memory for storing an existing switching state of the switch and the control circuit appropriately actuates the switch when the status bit and the existing switching state are not equivalent.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
68 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a headend for transmitting communications and a broadband television signal from the service provider to the communications receiver, a first medium connecting the headend and the communications receiver, and a second medium for connecting the first medium to a television signal receiver, the television signal receiver receiving at least the predetermined plurality of channels via the second medium.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
33 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 16, the communications receiver particularly comprising a directional coupler for coupling the first and second mediums and a data receiver for receiving communications from the headend.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
34 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, the first communication comprising data representing at least one periodic service data code indicating a corresponding predetermined plurality of channels allocated to a periodic service offering.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
The service denial apparatus according to claim 5, the data code representing the periodic service offering having an absence of channel data, the absence of channel data representing at least one predetermined channel allocated to the periodic service offering.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
163 words
A subscription television system comprising a headend for addressably transmitting communications to a particular subscriber; a receiver for receiving communications from the headend; a decoder, responsive to the receiver, for decoding communications addressably transmitted to the particular subscriber; a memory for storing instructions and data for permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber; a service denying circuit for controlling whether the particular subscriber receives a periodic service offering, the periodic service offering being received over at least one channel; and a control circuit, responsive to the decoder, for controlling the service denying circuit to allow the particular subscriber to receive the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a first communication indicating a start time of the periodic service offering, and for controlling the service denying circuit to inhibit the particular subscriber from receiving the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a second communication indicating an end time of the periodic service offering.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
163 words
A subscription television system comprising a headend for addressably transmitting communications to a particular subscriber; a receiver for receiving communications from the headend; a decoder, responsive to the receiver, for decoding communications addressably transmitted to the particular subscriber; a memory for storing instructions and data for permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber; a service denying circuit for controlling whether the particular subscriber receives a periodic service offering, the periodic service offering being received over at least one channel; and a control circuit, responsive to the decoder, for controlling the service denying circuit to allow the particular subscriber to receive the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a first communication indicating a start time of the periodic service offering, and for controlling the service denying circuit to inhibit the particular subscriber from receiving the periodic service offering over the at least one channel responsive to a second communication indicating an end time of the periodic service offering.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system of claim 20, wherein a period between the start time and the end time is one of a prescribed length of the periodic service offering and a subscriber selected length.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one channel includes at least one non-scrambled channel.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
137 words
Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising, a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider, a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider, a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber, selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
137 words
Service denial apparatus for periodically permitting and denying service to subscribers of a subscription system, the service denial apparatus comprising, a communications receiver for receiving communications from a service provider, a communications decoder, responsive to the communications receiver, for decoding communications received from the service provider, a memory for storing instructions and data for periodically permitting and denying service to a particular subscriber, selective service denial circuitry for selectively permitting and denying service to the particular subscriber, and a control circuit, responsive to the communications decoder and the memory, for selectively actuating the memory and the selective service denial circuitry, the control circuit responsive to a communication actuating storage in the memory of a data code representing a periodic service offering, the data code further indicating a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic service offering.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4430669A
Cited
US4912760A
Cited
US5014309A
Cited
US4994908A
Cited
US4963966A
Cited
US5045816A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-02-18 | 2000-08-19 | 2001-02-18 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-02-18 | 2004-08-19 | 2005-02-18 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-02-18 | 2008-08-19 | 2009-02-18 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |