Patent Application
20050289584
This application claims priority to Polish Patent Application No. P-368770, filed on 24 Jun. 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The object of the invention is a method for locking and unlocking a functionality of a television data receiver and an arrangement for locking and unlocking a functionality of a television data receiver. The television data receiver can be a TV set, a digital television decoder or a personal computer with a screen.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
One of the best-known concepts for locking and unlocking the functionality of a device with a screen is a so-called “screen saver”, widely used with personal computers. A typical screen saver is activated after certain period of user inactivity or by calling a dedicated command. After the screen saver is activated, the display screen is turned blank or a predefined image is presented thereon, while the access to the computer functionality is locked. The screen saver is deactivated (and the computer functionality is unlocked) usually by a resume of user activity (for example, the press of a key on a keyboard or the movement of a mouse). Screen saver deactivation may also require entering a password, so that unauthorized users may not gain access to computer functionality.
The PCT application No. WO02/17626 entitled “Television set having additional functions” presents a television data receiver with a functionality similar to the screen saver for a personal computer as described above. The functionality is similar in that after the user turns off the receiver, various images are presented on the display, thus serving a decorative function.
The US patent application No. U.S. 2002/0029382 entitled “Method of locking or unlocking a service on a digital receiver of audiovisual programs and device for implementing the method” presents a method for locking television channels. If a manual action is performed by the user while watching a channel, that channel is added to a list of locked channels, which enables the user to manually lock a set of channels.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,612 entitled “Remotely selectable audio/video/text disruption” presents a method for disrupting the display of an audio-visual display device, which is activated by transmitting a series of codes from a remote control unit to the device. The display may be disrupted by displaying a solid color or setting the contrast and brightness levels of the display to less than optimal settings.
As seen from the above examples, there are some known methods for locking or disturbing the display of a device, especially a television data receiver. However, they do not provide an unlocking mechanism that would restore the configuration of the receiver prior to its locking. Moreover, the known methods are not user-dependent, i.e. the locking of the device by one user disables the device for all other users. Furthermore, the known solutions are not integrated with a signal recording system, and do not provide signal recording while the device is locked.
Purposes of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an arrangement for locking and unlocking a functionality of a television data receiver, which would enable, at unlocking, restoring the configuration of the receiver prior to its locking. Furthermore, the invention provides means for management of locking for various users and for recording the contents of the channel which was locked and displaying the locked content after unlocking.
This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description, which follows.
Brief Description of the Invention
The object of the invention is a method for locking and unlocking a functionality of a television data receiver, in which executing the functionality locking function involves interrupting the display of an active channel, displaying a substitute signal, storing a current configuration of the receiver in a memory, the configuration including an identifier of the last active channel and configuring the receiver to a transitional state, and executing the functionality unlocking function involves performing authorization and upon successful authorization, reading the configuration of the receiver from the memory and configuring the receiver in accordance with the read configuration. The configuration may further include settings of applications active upon activating a functionality locking function.
Preferably, while executing the functionality locking function, the recording of the signal of the last active channel in a buffer is initiated, and a reference to the recording in the buffer is included in the configuration. The recording can be continued for a predefined time, or until the end of the program on the last active channel, or until the buffer is full. Moreover, while configuring the receiver in accordance with the read configuration, depending on a selection made by a user, the current signal of the last active channel is displayed or the recorded signal of the last active channel is displayed.
Preferably, the configuration is stored separately for each user profile and the receiver is configured separately for each user profile. The functionality unlocking function can be activated by activating a user profile for which the receiver was configured to a transitional state. The substitute signal may be the default channel of the main profile.
The substitute signal can be a user profile selection screen, the television channel assigned as the first channel, or a blank screen.
The transitional state can be a stand-by state. The functionality locking function can be activated by turning off the receiver.
The object of the invention is also an arrangement for locking and unlocking a functionality of a television data receiver, comprising a memory and a functionality locking controller for executing functionality locking and unlocking functions as described above.
In the accompanying drawings one of the possible embodiments of the present invention is shown, where:
In the presented embodiments, a digital television decoder (also known as a set-top box) was presented as an example of a television data receiver. However, the presented invention can be also employed with other types of television data receivers, for example standard TV sets or computers, optionally equipped with a signal recording system.
A digital television decoder, being an exemplary embodiment of a television data receiver 100, comprises a signal receiving block 110, which receives digital television signal, a system controller 120, which controls signal processing procedures and operation of the whole system and an audio/video block 130, which converts the signal into a form acceptable by a television receiver connected to the decoder. The system controller 120 comprises a signal processing block 121, which is responsible for signal processing, involving for example signal decoding and descrambling.
The system controller 120 comprises a functionality locking controller 123. The controller 123 is responsible for executing the locking and unlocking procedures. The controller 123 is linked with a controller memory 124 for storing the current configuration of the television data receiver. The configuration includes at least an identifier of a television channel active at the moment of calling the locking function. The configuration stored in the controller memory 124 allows resuming the functionality of the television data receiver 100 after its functionality is unlocked.
In addition, the system controller 120 may contain a user profile manager 122, which allows configuring the functionality of the decoder for each user separately.
The digital television decoder 100 can be also equipped with a television signal recording system 140, also known as a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The signal recording system 140 contains a controller buffer 141, for example a hard disk drive, for recording the signal of the locked television channel. If the television data receiver 100 is equipped with the user profile manager 122, the signal recording system 140 can have a number of controller buffers 141, a separate buffer being assigned for each user.
The functionality unlocking function can be activated in step 211 by means of a dedicated button of the remote control or the button used for functionality locking function activation. The functionality unlocking function can be also activated by switching to the channel, which was active earlier (i.e. at the time the locking function was activated). After unlocking function activation, an authorization is made in step 212 in order to check if a given user has rights to unlock functionality of the receiver, for example, by entering an access code. In case of a failed authorization of the unlocking function, the receiver is returned to the state from before calling the unlocking function. In case of a successful authorization, the previous configuration of the receiver is read from the controller memory in step 213 and the functionality of the receiver is configured accordingly in step 214. The configuration may, for example, specify a return to a previously displayed channel.
After the activation of the functionality locking function and until the activation of the functionality unlocking function, the television data receiver operates in a transitional state, which may enable, for example, the following functionality (according to the configuration of the system):
If the television data receiver, besides displaying of television channels, allows handling various applications (such as, for example, games, business applications, e-mail, program guides etc.), the current settings of these applications are additionally included when recording the configuration of the receiver in the controller memory. It makes it possible to resume the operation of those applications after unlocking the functionality of the receiver.
If the television data receiver is additionally equipped with a user profile manager, the functionality is locked and the current configuration is recorded for each user independently from other users. In such a case, the locking of the receiver functionality can be equal to locking the profile of a given user. Then, the screen of the user profile selection can be displayed as a substitute signal. In another embodiment, the receiver is switched automatically to the main profile and the default channel for the given profile is selected (for example, the first channel from the list of the most often used channels). Unlocking the functionality of the receiver for a given profile is made by activating a profile that was locked earlier.
If the television data receiver is equipped with the television signal recording system, then after activation of the functionality locking function, the recording of the signal that was active is additionally started. It allows the user to return to watching the program that was stopped.
While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof. Such variations are not regarded as a departure from the invention, the true scope of the invention being set forth in the claims appended hereto.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 368770 | Jun 2004 | PL | national |
