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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of automatic controllers, and
more particularly, to programmable controllers for use with television
receivers and like equipment.
2. Prior Art
Many systems have been proposed for the automatic control of television
receivers, that is, automatic channel selection for particular times of
the day based upon programming information entered into the controller at
some previous time. Most of these systems, however, are in substantial
part mechanical systems which are not particularly easy to program,
thereby being relatively expensive to manufacture and difficult to use.
Accordingly, such systems have not enjoyed significant commercial use on
conventional receivers.
Simple programmable television receiver controllers would provide a number
of advantages over conventional channel selectors, and even over remote
controlled channel selectors for a number of reasons. There may be
programs of particular merit or interest which a viewer does not want to
miss. However, the viewer's attention may inadvertently be drawn to
another channel at the time, thereby failing to change channels to the
more desirable program at the appropriate time. Also at the present time,
a number of programs and movies being shown on T.V. are directed toward an
adult audience, which programs may be undesirable or outright unsuitable
for viewing by children, a situation which may only be expected to
increase in the future. In addition, more andmore homes have at least one
television receiver controllable at least a substantial amount of the time
by children, whereby with conventional channel selectors the "viewers
discretion" cannot be exercised by a parent. Accordingly, aprogrammable
controller could be programmed periodically, such as once a week, so that
those programs of highest merit or viewer interest, will be automatically
selected and/or predetermined unobjectionable programs will be selected at
times when objectionable programming is being televised on other channels.
As an alternative, of course, objectionable programming itself could be
programmed for the purposes of locking out such programs from the viewer's
selections, e.g., eliminating such programming from the channel selections
accessible from the manual channel selector.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,215,798 and 3,388,308 disclose automatic television
programming systems of the mechanical or electromechanical type, whereby a
rotary device mechanically tied to a time clock is programmed to provide
some physical movement indicative of the channel to be selected at that
time. Devices of the same general type involving some form of motor driven
switching unit are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,755,424, 3,496438,
and 3,569,839. In all of these patents the mechanical complexity of the
system disclosed is believed to preclude the widespread adoption thereof
on receivers intended for consumer use. Further, most of these systems are
operative on a number of switching signals equal to the number of
selections desired, though some coding to somewhat reduce the complexity
of such systems is known, such as that in U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,438. Also,
obviously timing mechanisms or the electromechanical type for various
other applications are also known, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
3,603,961 being but one example of such devices.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Programmable television receiver controllers which may be manually
programmed by a user to select or to limit the viewing selections for
random times, typically in one-half hour intervals, throughout a
predetermined time period such as a one week time period. Program
selections may be made by setting suitable controls for the day, A.M. or
P.M., the half hour of the day and the channel desired, and entered into a
memory by a push-button control. Thereafter a digital control clock
automatically selects the pre-entered information at the appropriate times
and provides a control signal which may be used to automatically select
the identified channels to the exclusion of all others. Alternatively, the
signal may be used to exclude the selected channel from selection
manually. In one embodiment, the programmable controller is incorporated
in the original design of the television receiver and in a second
embodiment an external controller is disclosed which may be attached to
the antenna terminals of a conventional television. Additional embodiments
include means for controlling other functions such as the ON-OFF function
of the receiver.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical receiver incorporating the first
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a front view shown in schematic form of the control panel of the
first embodiment of present invention.
FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are block diagrams illustrating various forms of
implementation of the first embodiment of the present invention to prior
art tuners.
FIG. 7 and 8 are block diagrams of the second embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises programmable television receiver
controllers which may select, or alternatively prevent the selection of,
specific television programs based upon previously entered program
instructions. As shall subsequently be described in detail, the systems
are particularly simple to fabricate and easy to program. The first
embodiment may be readily incorporated into the design of conventional
receivers, particularly the receivers using the newer tuners having some
form of numerical or push-button control. The second embodiment may be
interfaced with a conventional television receiver simply by attaching the
invention to the receiver's antenna terminals.
For purposes of explanation of the invention, a first embodiment thereof
will be described in detail, it being understood that variations thereof,
etc., some of which will be also described, will become obvious given the
fundamental concepts of the embodiment. This first embodiment comprises a
programmable television receiver controller for automatically determining
(e.g., controlling the channel selector of the receiver as an over-ride to
the manual selector) the channel selection for those viewing time periods
for which it has been programmed. The purpose of such programming is to
automatically present the desired preselected programs to the exclusion of
those inadvertently selected at the time, and in the case of children, to
prevent the viewing of objectionable programs by predetermining what may
be viewed during the times one or more objectionable programs are being
televised.
In the first embodiment, T.V. program selections covering time intervals of
up to a week are entered into a memory, and then automatically selected by
means of a digital control clock when the T.V. receiver is operating.
Control of the ON-OFF function is not automated, though certainly it may
be incorporated if desired. The program is selected by setting suitable
controls for the day, A.M. or P.M., the hour and half-hour of the day, and
channel desired, with the selections being entered into memory by a
push-button control. The selected channels are thus stored as input
information using the particular half-hour time period as the address
input for the memory, and are subsequently automatically selected by use
of the digital output of the control clock as a memory address. Specific
details of the design function and operation of the first embodiment are
more fully described below, with specific reference to the drawing
illustrating the invention.
Now referring to FIG. 1, a perspective view of a television receiver of
television set incorporating the first embodiment of the present invention
may be seen. It is to be understood that this figure is not intended to
represent any specific manufacturer's current receiver, but instead is
presented as a schematic representation of the general type of receiver
now being offered by a number of manufacturers. In particular, in addition
to a generally rectangular enclosure 20 having a picture tube 22 visible
from the front thereof, such receivers are characterized by some form of
control panel which may include a first group of control switches and
other adjustments 24, such as ON-OFF, volume, and picture controls and
adjustments, and a keyboard matrix 26 for the push-button channel
selection. In addition, the receiver shown in FIG. 1 also contains a small
control panel 28 containing the controls for the programming, etc., in
accordance with the present invention.
Now referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the first embodiment of the
present invention may be seen. This particular embodiment utilizes a
random access memory means 30 having a 512 by 7 bit organization. Thus the
memory, in addition to the usual power supply connections, etc., is
characterized by nine address input lines 32 to receive a nine bit binary
coded address, and seven input/output lines 34 for receiving input signals
and/or providing an output signal in accordance with information
previously stored in the memory. Also provided is a read-write control
line 36, the state of which determines whether the memory 30 will read out
information on the output lines 34 in accordance with the address provided
on lines 32, or alternatively will enter into memory the information on
the lines 34 in accordance with the memory location determined by the
address provided on the lines 32.
Many different types of memory devices are suitable for use with the
present invention. Of particular advantage however are semiconductor
memory devices, as such devices are small, and require little power and
minimum support circuitry. Both static and dynamic memories could be used,
though static memories are preferred as to refresh cycle is required, and
the slightly higher power consumption which may be characteristic of such
memories is of little significance with 110 volt power available.
(Suitable memory devices are available from Intel, Mountain View, Calif.
and Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor, to name three of the
well known manufacturers of such devices.) Also it should be noted that
the organization of such memories is generally variable, and for that
matter, it may be desired to vary from the organization provided herein
for reasons which will be subsequently mentioned. In fact, other forms of
alterable storage devices may be used, such as shift registers, provided
they are implemented as random access memory means, that is, organized to
allow storage access based upon clock and manually set inputs.
The memory 30 is generally utilized as a translator in the present
invention, translating the input information provided on the address lines
32 representing a particular program interval, to output information on
lines 34 determining the particular channel selection for that time
interval dependent upon the previous programming of the memory. As such,
the memory translates a time period to a channel selection in accordance
with a previously selected choice for that time interval. The various
choices are entered in the memory by the control panel 28 on the receiver
shown in FIG. 1.
The control panel for programming the memory, the face of which is shown in
detail in FIG. 3, is characterized by a first switch selector 38 for
selecting the day of the week, a second switch selector 40 for selecting
the morning or afternoon hours, a pair of switches 42 for selecting the
hour and half-hour, and a channel selector switch 44 for selecting any of
the eighty-two U.H.F. and V.H.F. channels. Entry of the selected
information is made by a switch 46, which may be a key-operated switch to
prevent subsequent alternation of the programmed information. Also
presented on the face of the control panel is a clock 48 indicating the
day of the week and time of the day, useful both as a convenience and for
resetting a clock in the event power is interrupted. These various
controls 38 through 48 are also shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2. The
day of the week of seven-day selector 38 provides a three-bit binary coded
signal providing a maximum of an eight day cycle if desired (a seven day
cycle being the usual). The half hour selector 42 is a five bit signal,
with the A.M./P.M. selector 40 providing and additional bit to designate
between successive twelve hour periods. Thus, the half hour selector 42
covering the twenty-four half hour periods in each half day is more than
adequately covered by the five bit signal. Finally, the channel selector
44 in this embodiment, also providing a binary coded signal, may have all
the U.H.F. and V.H.F. channels, that is, all eighty-two channels, which
are more than adequately covered by the seven bit signal. It is to be
understood, however, that other forms of coding, or for that matter
uncoded signals, may be used if desired. By way of example the channel
selector 44 may be comprised of two side by side decimal switches, with
the coding being binary coded decimal to give a possible range of
selections from 00 to 99, again more than adequately covering the
eighty-two channels available. (Some of these bits could be used to
automate other functions if desired. By way of example 00 might be used
for an automatic turn-off, 01 as automatic turn-on and/or 84 through 99
for such other functions as may be desired,) Binary coded decimal requires
four bits for each digit, or a total of eight bits, and would therefore
require a 512 by 8 memory organization.
It should also be noted that uncoded channel selections may also be used if
desired. In particular, certain T.V. receivers may have push-botton or
switching controls for a smaller number of channels selected from the
eighty-two possible channels, the selections being determined in
accordance with the reception where the set is to be used. In this case,
the total number of selections available on any specific set may be
sufficiently limited in number so that one bit may be assigned to each
channel selection possible. Uncoding of the day and time of day is also a
possibility, though most memories, particularly the semi-conductor
memories commercially available at the present time at relatively low cost
and in large quantities, include their own decoders, and uncoded time
signals would probably require too many bits to be practical.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the digital clock 48 provides a nine bit
binary coded time signal advancing each one half hour, with the seven day
selector, the half-hour selector and the A.M./P.M. selector providing time
selections of the same format and corresponding to the equivalent future
output of the clock. A switching unit, shown schematically as block 50,
selects between the current time signal determined by the day and time
selectors, e.g., the nine bit signals (A) or the nine bit signals (B), and
provides either of these signals to the memory 30 as the nine bit address
input. Normally switch block 50 (an electronic or mechanical switch) will
communicate the output of the digital clock to the memory address input,
though upon mechanical or manual actuation of the enter switch 46, will
change to communicate the future selected time to the address input. At
the same time a switch 52 changes the signal on the read-write input 36 of
the memory 30 from a read signal to a write signal, writing in the
information then provided by the channel selector 44. In that regard it
will be noted that the output of the channel selector 44 is coupled to an
appropriate number of AND gates 54, with the gates being controlled by a
signal on line 56 coupled to the read-write line. Thus only during the
memory write operation is the output of the channel selector 44 coupled to
the data input/output lines 34 of the memory. Further, the same signal on
line 56 is coupled through an inverter 58 which decouples the information
on lines 34 from the controller output on lines 60 used for the tuner
controller by disabling AND gates 62. Thus during programming the various
selections being programmed are decoupled from the tuner controller so as
to not interfere with the current operation of the receiver (if then being
used).
Having now described the general organization and inter-connection of the
first embodiment of the present invention, an exemplary programming step
will now be described. Assume one always wants to watch the 6:00 P.M. news
every week day on channel five. In this case the seven day selector 38 is
set to Monday, the half-hour selector 42 is set to 6:00, the A.M./P.M.
selector is set to P.M. and the channel selector is set to channel five.
On depression of the enter switch the output of the memory on lines 34 is
decoupled from the controller output lines 60, the address for the
particular half hour selected is provided to the memory, the output of the
channel selector is coupled to the input/output lines 34 of the memory,
and a write signal is directed to the memory to store the channel
selection at the appropriate address. Obviously, to program for the
remaining days of the week the seven day selector 38 is merely advanced
through all the desired days, the enter switch 46 being actuated for each
day that that particular program is desired.
Now referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, three exemplary forms of implementing
the control signals on line 60 may be seen. In FIG. 4, illustrating the
implementation for a system wherein the channel selection information is
uncoded, a simple switching unit 70 to control a switch type selector may
be used. Such switching units may be relays or semiconductor switches as
desired. For systems utilizing coded channel information such as binary or
binary coded decimal information, a decoder 72 is interposed between the
lines 60 and the switching unit 70 to decode the selection, as shown in
FIG. 5. It should be noted that if the number of possible channel
selections is less than the number of combinations provided by the code,
additional decoded outputs may be provided by the decoder 72, such as on
lines 74 for such purposes as implementing the ON/OFF switch functions,
etc. Finally in FIG. 6 an electromechanical system for operating a
mechanical tuner 76 is shown. In this implementation the signals on lines
60, whether coded or uncoded, are compared with the output of an encoder
78 mechanically coupled to the mechanical tuner 76. A drive motor 82
coupled to the output of comparator 80 is used to advance the position of
mechanical tuner until coincidence is obtained between the signal on line
60 and the signals provided by the encoder 78.
As a further example of the implementation of the present invention,
reference is hereby made to a publication of the Zenith Radio Corporation
of Chicago, Illinois entitled "Technician Participation Workshop, TPW 4"
dated June 1976. This publication provides technical information with
respect to certain tuners used on their television receivers. On page 62
thereof, a twelve position push-button manual varactor tuning system is
shown, together with the logic diagram and circuit therefor. This tuner
utilizes twelve push-buttons to cover the range of channels from two to
thirteen, and twelve potentiometer adjustments for the tuning to up to
twelve U.H.F. channels. Each potentiometer adjustment is associated with
one of the twelve push-bottons so that the twelve V.H.F. or up to twelve
U.H.F. channels may be selected through the equivalent of twenty-four
switch closures. Accordingly for the direct implementation of the first
embodiment of the present invention on a receiver using this tuning
system, the switching unit 70 would provide the full range of tuner
control possible for such receivers by providing these twenty-four switch
closures automatically, either mechanically or electronically.
A block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention may be seen
in FIG. 7. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a
conventional television receiver is converted to a programmable receiver
by simply connecting the invention between the receiver antennas and the
receiver's antenna terminals. In operation, the television receiver is set
to a single channel such as channel three and the channel selection,
either manual or automatic, is performed using a channel selector provided
on the controller.
As shown in FIG. 7, a pretuner is used for converting the various U.H.F.
and V.H.F. frequencies to a frequency corresponding to the V.H.F. channel
selected on the receiver 83. For example, if channel three is selected,
the converted frequency would be approximately 64 mHz.
The U.H.F. and V.H.F. antennas 85 and 86, which are normally connected to
the receiver 83, are disconnected and reconnected to the inputs of a
U.H.F. mixer 89 and a V.H.F. amplifier 91, respectively. The pretuner
design is similar to ordinary television tuner and differs primarily only
in frequency of operation. Preferably, the pretuner is of the
non-motorized electronic tuner variety, utilizing varactor diodes in the
U.H.F. and V.H.F. mixers 89 and 91, the U.H.F. and V.H.F. local
oscillators 97 and 99 and the V.H.F. amplifier 91. By appropriately
controlling the voltage applied to the varactors, the effective varactor
capacitance can be changed thereby changing the pretuner frequency of
operation. A switching unit 93 includes several digitally controlled
electronic switches which vary the voltage applied to the various varactor
diodes depending upon a digital input supplied by a decoder 95. The
motorless electronic pretuner is similar to the tuners described in the
Zenith Tuning System Manual published by the Zenith Radio Corporation in
August of 1975, which was compiled to assist service technicians on
servicing the tuning systems used in the Zenith Radio Corporation's "G"
line of television receivers.
Operation of the pretuner can best be described by way of example. If, for
example, V.H.F. channel eight is selected for viewing, the decoder 95
digital output will cause the electronic switches in switching unit 93 to
apply voltages to the V.H.F. amplifier 91 so that the amplifier will be
tuned to 184 mHz, the approximate channel 8 frequency of transmission. For
V.H.F. operation, the switching unit 93 also disconnects the output of the
U.H.F. mixer 89 from the input of the V.H.F. amplifier 91. The 184 mHz
signal, supplied by V.H.F. antenna 87, is amplified by amplifier 91 and
then mixed with the output of the V.H.F. local oscillator 99 by V.H.F.
mixer 101. For channel eight reception, switching unit 93 will force the
local oscillator 99 output frequency to 248 mHz so that the V.H.F. mixer
101 output, which is the difference between the two inputs, will be 64
mHz. The 64 mHz signal, which corresponds to the channel three
transmission frequency, is connected to the V.H.F. antenna terminal 103
through a disable relay 105. The purpose of the relay will be discussed
below. It can be seen that if the television receiver 83 is set for
channel three, channel eight will be received. The output of the V.H.F.
mixer 101 is provided with a bandpass filter, not shown, having a 64 mHz
center frequency and a bandwidth of approximately 5mHz to insure that no
signals other than the signal corresponding to channel three is present at
the V.H.F. terminal 103. If other channels are selected using the
television 83 channel selector, obviously, nothing will be received. A
metal box or bracket 107 is attached to the receiver 83 which covers both
the V.H.F. and U.H.F. antenna terminals 103 and 109 so that the controller
cannot be defeated by disconnecting the controller output and attaching
conventional antennas to the terminals.
For U.H.F. operation, switching unit 93 connects the U.H.F. mixer 89 output
to V.H.F. amplifier 91, disconnects the V.H.F. antenna 87 and disables
V.H.F. local oscillator 99. If U.H.F. channel seventy-six reception is
desired, for example, switching unit 93 will force the U.H.F. local
oscillator 97 output frequency to approximately 908 mHz. The local
oscillator 97 output is mixed by U.H.F. mixer 89 with the 844 mHz channel
seventy-six signal provided by U.H.F. antenna 85. The mixer 89 64 mHz
output, the frequency of which is the difference between the channel
seventy-six and the U.H.F. local oscillator 97 output frequencies, is fed
to the V.H.F. amplifier 91. The signal is amplified and fed through V.H.F.
mixer 101 and the disable relay 105 to the V.H.F. antenna terminal 103.
The V.H.F. mixer 101 has no effect on the 64 mhz signal other than
slightly reducing the signal's strength since V.H.F. local oscillator 99
is disabled. The frequency of the signal is the same as the U.H.F. channel
three transmission frequency, therefore, by setting the television
receiver 83 for channel three reception, U.H.F. channel 76 will be
received. The bandpass filter at the output of V.H.F. mixer 101 prevents
the reception of signals other than the 64 mHz signal.
FIG. 8 shows a modified view of the second embodiment wherein the
controller 84 output 125 is connected to the input of the conventional
television 83 intermediate frequency (I.F.) amplifier stage rather than
the V.H.F. antenna input 103. In this variation, the U.H.F. and V.H.F.
mixers 89 and 91, and the U.H.F. and V.H.F. local oscilators 97 and 99 are
designed so that the pretuner 84 output is approximately 44 mHz, which is
the center frequency of operation of television receiver I.F. amplifiers.
If, for example, channel eight is being received, switching unit 93 will
force the V.H.F. amplifier 91 to be tuned to a center frequency of
approximately 184 mHz corresponding to the channel eight frequency of
transmission. Switching unit 93 will also force the V.H.F. local
oscillator to 228 mHz so that the V.H.F. mixer 101 output frequency will
be the difference or 44 mHz. The 44 mHz signal is then coupled through the
disable relay 105 to the television 83 I.F. amplifier stage input.
Installation of the modified second embodiment is accomplished by removing
an interconnect cable connecting the television 83 tuner to the I.F.
amplifier and then connecting the controller output 125 to the television
I.F. amplifier input. In most cases the interconnect cable is provided
with quick-release electrical connectors as is the controller output 125
cable, consequently installation is quite simple. Because the television
83 tuner has been bypassed, channel selection is controlled solely by
switch panel 111. The modified second embodiment controller 84 pretuner
frequency of operation is identical to that of a conventional television
tuner consequently the design is advantageous in that many of the
components of a conventional tuner can be utilized in construction of the
controller.
The second embodiment programmer is provided with a control panel similar
to the first embodiment panel shown on FIG. 3. However, the channel
selection 44 is replaced with a push-button panel 111 which can be seen in
FIG. 7. The panel 111 has ten push-button switches numbered zero through
nine. Any channel, including the twelve V.H.F. channels and the seventy
U.H.F. channels, may be selected by simply depressing one or more of the
appropriate push-buttons. For example, if V.H.F. channel six is desired,
the push-button marked "6" would be depressed and, similarly, U.H.F.
channel thirty-eight would be selected by depressing push-buttons labeled
"3" and "8". Switch panel 111 further includes an encoding means for
converting the push-button depressions to a binary coded output 116.
An alternative switch panel (not shown) having thirteen push-buttons could
also be used. One of the push-buttons is a V.H.F./U.H.F. select. When this
push-button is not depressed, any one of the twelve U.H.F. channels may be
selected by depressing any one of the twelve remaining push buttons. When
the V.H.F./U.H.F. select push-button is depressed, the remaining twelve
push-buttons then control the reception of U.H.F. channels. Means are
provided for initially selecting a group of twelve U.H.F. channels which
are most frequently viewed. Any one of the group of twelve U.H.F. channels
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