Three digit channel entry system
Contents
1. Eo means coupled to said control means for generating character signals suitable for display on a display 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 602. e United States Patent 1 Patent Number 5 020 140 Teskey 45 Date of Patent May 28 1991 4 R 54 THREE DIGIT CHANNEL ENTRY SYSTEM OTHER PUBLICATIONS 75 Inventor John Teskey Greenfield Ind The User Manual for the MBC 300 Multi Brand Re mote Control printed 1989 73 Assignee RCA Licensing Corporation Primary Examiner Tommy P Chin Princeton N J Attorney Agent or Firm Joseph S Tripoli Peter M Emanuel Thomas F Lenihan 21 Appl No 489 391 57 ABSTRACT 22 Filed Mar 5 1990 A channel number data entry system for a television receiver employing a numeric keyboard allows the 51 Int CLS HOAN 5 44 HO4B 11 00 Selection of cable channels having channel numbers ts US Cr aca 455 181 358 1941 Sreater than 99 without the use of a separate ENTER 5 455 7603 or 100s key Specifically if a predetermined unused or 58 Field of Search 358 194 1 455 151 invalid channel number such as 00 is entered then the 455 7152 353 603 on screen display message 1 is generated and a three digit channel entry mode is enabled If a valid and used x two digit channel number is entered then a two digit 56 References Cited channel entry mode is enabled In both modes the de U S PATENT DOCUMENTS sired channel is tuned upon receipt of the final digit of 3 943 451 3 1976 325 464 the channel number 4 162 513 7 1979 Beyers Jr et al
3. 358 191 4 386 436 5 1983 Kocher et 455 151 9 Claims 3 Drawing Sheets 130 RF IN Q100 AUDIO SIGNAL PROCESSOR 106 102 TUNER ASSEMBLY es VIF AND SIF AMPLIFIERS AND DETECTORS VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSOR KINE DRIVERS ON SCREEN DISPLAY UNIT 1 je CONTROL MICROPROCESSOR il VERT 160 U S Patent May 28 1991 Sheet 1 of 3 5 020 140 RF IN Q100 ee D A AUDIO SIGNAL 102 TUNER PROCESSOR ASSEMBLY VIF AND SIF 8 103 i AMPLIFIERS AND BAND DETECTORS 122 TUNER VIDEO SIGNAL ae CONTROL PROCESSOR KINE DRIVERS UNIT 123 ON SCREEN DISPLAY UNIT YOKE SYNC SEPARATOR DEFLECTION H UNIT CONTROL MICROPROCESSOR U S Patent May 28 1991 Sheet 2 of 3 5 020 140 Fig 2 U S Patent May 28 1991 Sheet 3 of 3 5 020 140 300 ENTER 310 RECEIVE DIGIT DISPLAY ON SCREEN SET LEADING ZERO FLAG CLEAR LEADING ZERO FLAG ENABLE 2 DIGIT ENTRY MODE DISPLAY ON SCREEN 3 DIGIT ENTRY MODE EXIT TO REMAINDER OF PROGRAM Fig 3 5 020 140 1 THREE DIGIT CHANNEL ENTRY SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION The subject application Ser No 489 392 filed Mar 5 1990 is related to a copending U S patent application bearing attorney s docket number RCA 85 631 and assig
4. the yes 5 020 140 5 path is taken from step 385 to step 390 at which the leading zero flag is cleared the two digit channel entry mode is then enabled step 340 and the routine is ex ited As noted above the remainder of the keyboard decoding routines not shown accessed via step 380 provide for the display of the entered digits on the display screen in a known manner via the OSD cir cuitry When a user wishes to enter the cable channel num ber 135 apparatus in accordance with the subject inven tion performs as follows The user would enter the unique code 00 in order to enable the three digit channel entry mode The OSD circuitry would cause the dis play of O_in response to the entering of the leading zero by the user The display would then change to 1 in response to the entering of the second zero The display would show 1 3_in response to the entering of the digit 3 and 1 3 5 in response to the entering of the last digit Immediately after receiving the final digit of the three digit channel number in this example the numeral 5 control microprocessor 110 causes tuner assembly 102 to tune to cable channel 135 It is herein recognized that the addition of an ENTER key or 100s key to keyboard of the remote control unit may require the modification of the control program of both the remote control unit to detect process and transmit the new keycode and the control program of the controller in the television receiver to
5. receive decode and process the new keycode The subject channel number data entry system de scribed above avoids the necessity of modifying the control program of the remote control unit because the invention resides in the television receiver and not in the remote control unit As a result of the fact that no modification of the remote control unit is necessary existing remote control units may be used when practic ing the invention Further advantages of the present invention are that keyboard complexity is not increased the cost of adding the additional key is saved and the cost modifying the control program of the remote control unit is saved The term consumer electronic equipment as used herein includes television receivers and radios The term television receiver as used herein includes televi sion receivers having a display device commonly known as television sets and television receivers with out a display device such as VCRs It should be noted that while the code 00 was used in the above described embodiment any invalid or unused two digit channel number may be used to cause entry into the three digit channel entry mode if the code detection routine of FIG 3 is modified accordingly What is claimed is 1 Channel selection apparatus for a television re ceiver comprising keyboard means including a plurality of keys for generating digits of two and three digit channel numbers when said keys are activated by a use
6. board which system allows the selection of cable channels having channel numbers greater than 99 without the use of a separate ENTER or 100s key Specifically if a predetermined unused or invalid two digit channel number such as 00 is entered then the on screen display message 1 3 is generated and a three digit channel entry mode is enabled Another invalid channel number in the United States is channel 01 As noted above cable channel numbers 95 to 97 are unused for television because they reside in the commercial broadcast FM radio band If a valid and used two digit channel number is entered then a two digit channel entry mode is enabled In both modes the desired chan 0 5 20 40 45 50 60 65 4 nel is tuned upon receipt of the final digit of the channel number The flowchart of FIG 3 shows a portion of the key board decoding routine of the control program of mi croprocessor 110 The purpose of the portion of the routine shown in FIG 3 is to detect the unique two digit code which causes the enabling of the three digit chan nel entry mode The usual keycode decoding and dis play functions are performed in another portion of the keyboard decoding routine of the control program of microprocessor 110 The keycode decoding and display functions are not shown in FIG 3 because they are known per se and need not be described here The routine of FIG 3 is executed each time a key code is rece
7. ereto 3 The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising means coupled to said control means for generating character signals suitable for display on a display screen said control means causing said character generating means to generate a character signal corresponding to the numeral 1 in response to the detection of said sequential generation of the digits 00 4 Channel selection apparatus for a television re ceiver comprising keyboard means including a plurality of keys for generating digits of two and three digit channel numbers when said keys are activated by a user control means coupled to said keyboard means for receiving said digits and for generating a tuning control signal in response thereto and said control means operating in a first mode to gener ate said tuning control signal upon receiving the second digit of one of said two digit channel num bers and operating in a second mode to generate said tuning control signal upon receiving the third digit of one of said three digit channel numbers said control means detecting the sequential genera tion of two predetermined digits and operating in said second mode in response thereto 5 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said two prede termined digits correspond to an invalid channel num ber 6 The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said invalid chan nel number is channel number 00 7 The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said two prede termined digits correspond to an unused c
8. hannel num ber 8 The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising means coupled to said control means for generating character signals suitable for display on a display screen said control means causing said character generating means to generate a character signal corresponding to the numeral 1 in response to the detection of said two predetermined digits 9 Channel selection apparatus for a television re ceiver comprising 7 keyboard means including a plurality of keys for generating digits of two and three digit channel numbers when said keys are activated by a user 5 020 140 7 8 control means coupled to said keyboard means for number and operating in said second mode in re receiving said digits and for generating a tuning sponse thereto and control signal in response thereto said control means operating in a first mode to gener ate said tuning control signal upon receiving the 5 a as screen said control means causing said character second digit of one of said two digit channel num bers and operating in a second mode to generate generanng means to character signal said tuning control signal upon receiving the third corresponding to the numeral 1 in response to the digit of one of said three digit channel numbers detection of said one of an invalid channel number said control means detecting the generation of one of 10 and an unused channel number an invalid channel number and an unused channel
9. he three digit channel entry mode Accordingly if the current digit is not the second digit the no path is taken from step 345 and the routine is exited If the current digit is the second digit received then the yes path is taken to step 350 at which point the state of the leading zero flag is checked If the second digit is the numeral 0 but the first digit was not the numeral zero for example chan nel number 10 then the no path will be taken from step 350 to step 340 and the two digit cable channel selec tion mode will be enabled If however the currently received digit is the numeral 0 and the leading zero flag is set indicating that the first digit received was also the numeral 0 then the program advances to step 360 at which the message 1 caused to be displayed and the 3 digit channel number entry mode is enabled at step 370 The program is then exited at step 380 to the re mainder of the keyboard decoding routines known per se Step 385 is reached directly from step 315 for all digits received which are other than the numeral 0 If the current non zero digit is not the first digit received it should have no effect upon the state of the leading zero flag In that case the no path is taken from step 385 to the exit at step 380 If however the current nonzero digit is the first digit received then it cannot form part of the special code 00 which triggers entry into the three digit channel entry mode In that case
10. ived The routine is entered at step 300 and receives a digit from IR receiver 119 or from local keyboard 118 at step 310 At step 315 a check is made to determine if the received digit corresponds to the numeral 0 If so then the program advances to step 320 at which a check is made to see if this digit is the first digit received of a multidigit channel number In the subject system channel numbers less than 10 are en tered beginning with a leading zero That is channel 9 is entered as 09 Therefore if the first digit received is the numeral 0 then the yes path is taken from step 320 to step 325 At step 325 the message O_is caused to be displayed on the display screen That is if the first digit received is the numeral 0 the received digit may be either the leading zero of a two digit channel number less than 10 or the leading zero of the code 00 which enables the three digit channel number entry mode At step 330 a data bit in a memory location called the leading zero flag is set The program then advances to step 340 wherein the 2 digit channel number entry mode is enabled At step 380 the program exits to the remainder of the keyboard decoding routines If at step 320 the current digit is not the first digit received then the no path is taken to step 345 At step 345 a check is made to see if the current digit is the second digit received If not it must be the third digit received and the program must already be in t
11. n a keyboard system having three digit channel number data entry capability is re sponsive to the reception of an invalid or unused chan nel number for entering a mode in which cable channels greater than 99 may be tuned If however a two digit channel number which is valid and used is received then tuning is caused to occur immediately after the entry of the second digit of the channel number BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG 1 shows in block diagram form an apparatus suitable for practicing the invention FIG 2 shows the keyboard of a remote control unit suitable for use with the invention FIG 3 is a flowchart showing a portion of the control program of the controller of FIG 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG 1 a television receiver includes an RF input terminal 100 which receives radio frequency RF signals and applies them to a tuner assembly 102 Tuner assembly 102 selects and amplifies a particular RF signal under control of a tuner controller 104 which provides a tuning voltage via a wire 103 and band switching signals via signal lines represented by the broad double ended arrow 103 Tuner assembly 102 converts the received RF signal to an intermediate frequency IF signal and provides an IF output signal to video VIF and sound SIF ampli fier and detector unit 108 VIF SIF amplifier and de tector unit 108 amplifies the IF signa applied to its input terminal and detec
12. ned to the same assignee as the present invention FIELD OF THE INVENTION The subject application concerns the field of televi sion receivers having channel selection capability in cluding direct entry of digits BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Broadcast television channels in the United States are assigned channel numbers between 2 and 83 inclusive Until recently the cable television channel numbering system differed from the broadcast television channel numbering system in that cable television channels were numbered from 2 to 99 Despite this difference all broadcast television channels and cable television chan nels could be selected by entering at most two digits via a keyboard mounted on the television receiver itself or on a remote control unit This limit of two digits per channel number has allowed the development of television receivers in which the tuner is controlled to select the desired channel immediately upon receiv ing the second digit of the channel number The RCA CTC 140 color television receiver chassis manufac tured by Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc Indian apolis Ind is an example of such a system Recently in the United States frequency space has been allocated for cable television channels which are numbered in excess of 99 thereby requiring a three digit keyboard data entry system The Electronics In dustries Association EIA has recommended the fol lowing numbering system for cable channel
13. quires an additional key on keyboards which in recent years have become more and more crowded as new features have been added For example the keyboard of the RCA CRK 55 remote control unit includes 80 keys Adding an ENTER key to such complex keyboards is undesirable in that a user may have to search among all those keys for the additional ENTER key In the second of the known prior three digit channel selection systems a remote control unit includes a 100s key The operation of the 100s key enables a three digit channel number entry mode by causing the entry of the digit 1 in the leftmost place of the three digit channel number Such a remote control unit is manufactured by Magnavox Corporation and bears model number UR111MX This approach also exhibits the above mentioned feature of an immediate reaction of the television receiver by tuning a channel upon receipt of the last digit entered by the viewer However it has the three other disadvantages discussed above with respect to the separate ENTER key SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is herein recognized that it is desirable to provide a channel selection system for a television receiver which is capable of selecting channels having channel numbers greater than 99 which system does not require the use of either an ENTER key or a 100s key and which will tune a channel corresponding to a desired two digit channel immediately upon entry of the second digit According to the inventio
14. r control means coupled to said keyboard means for receiving said digits and for generating a tuning control signal in response thereto said control means operating in a first mode to gener ate said tuning control signal upon receiving the second digit of one of said two digit channel num bers and operating in a second mode to generate said tuning control signal upon receiving the third digit of one of said three digit channel numbers 30 35 45 50 5 wm 65 6 said control means detecting the generation of one of a two digit invalid channel number and a two digit unused channel number and operating in said sec ond mode in response thereto 2 Channel selection apparatus for a television re ceiver comprising keyboard means including a plurality of keys for generating digits of two and three digit channel numbers when said keys are activated by a user control means coupled to said keyboard means for receiving said digits and for generating a tuning control signal in response thereto said control means operating in a first mode to gener ate said tuning control signal upon receiving the second digit of one of said two digit channel num bers and operating in a second mode to generate said tuning control signal upon receiving the third digit of one of said three digit channel numbers said control means detecting the sequential genera tion of the digits 00 and operating in said second mode in response th
15. s CABLE PICTURE CHANNEL CARRIER FREQUENCY BAND 65 89 313 25 MHz 613 25 MHz UHF 90 94 619 25 MHz 643 25 MHz UHF 95 99 historically called A I to A 5 Low VHF 100 139 649 25 MHz 885 25 MHz UHF Cable channel numbers 95 to 97 reside within the commercial FM radio broadcast band 88 MHz 108 MHz in the United States and are usually unused be cause of interference problems which may occur be tween the desired television signals and the undesired FM radio signals Two prior three digit channel selection system are known In the first of these known systems the key board includes an ENTER key for signaling the com pletion of a channel number entry Such a system is known from the MBC 300 remote control unit manu factured by Zenith Corporation There are four disad vantages to this approach First viewers have become accustomed to the above mentioned immediate reaction of the television receiver in tuning a channel upon re ceipt of the last digit entered by the viewer This desir able feature is lost in a system which employs an ENTER key Second operation of the ENTER key undesirably adds a separate keystroke to the selection of all channels requiring three keystrokes to select most channels and four keystrokes to select channels greater 10 15 45 55 60 2 than 99 Third the cost and complexity of the keyboard keycode encoding and keycode decoding is increased by the addition of the ENTER key Fourth it re
16. ts the video and audio information contained therein The detected video information is applied as one input of a video processor unit 122 The 5 020 140 3 detected audio signal is applied to an audio processor 106 for processing and amplification before being ap plied to a speaker not shown Video signal processor 122 supplies a composite video signal to a sync separator unit 160 which pro duces vertical V and horizontal H synchronizing signals at respective outputs The horizontal and verti cal synchronizing signals are applied to a horizontal and vertical deflection unit 170 for generating scanning control signals for application to the yoke windings of a picture tube assembly not shown Tuner controller 104 which may be within control microcomputer 110 generates the tuning voltage and bandswitching signals in response to control signals applied from a system control microcomputer C 110 The terms microcomputer and microprocessor as used herein are equivalent It is also recognized that the control function of microcomputer 110 may be per formed by an integrated circuit especially manufactured for that specific purpose i e a custom chip and the term controller as used herein is also intended to include such a device Microcomputer 110 receives user initiated commands from an infrared IR receiver 119 and from a local keyboard 118 mounted on the television receiver itself IR recei
17. ver 119 receives IR transmissions from remote control transmitter 128 Mi crocomputer 110 includes a central processing unit CPU 113 a program memory ROM 112 and stores channel related data in a random access memory RAM 120 RAM 120 may be either internal to or external to microprocessor 110 and may be of either the volatile or non volatile type The term RAM is also intended to include electrically erasable program mable read only memory EEPROM One skilled in the art will recognize that if volatile memory is utilized that it may be desirable to use a suitable form of standby power to preserve its contents when the receiver is turned off Microprocessor 110 may also include an on screen display unit OSD 185 for generating auxiliary signals suitable for displaying indicia such as characters for display on the display screen of the picture tube Alter natively on screen display unit 185 may be external to microprocessor 110 The television receiver described thus far is known from the RCA CTC 140 color television receiver man ufactured by Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc Indianapolis Ind Keyboard 200 of FIG 2 includes a VOLUME DOWN key 210 a VOLUME UP key 220 an ON OFF key 230 and a 0 9 numeric keypad generally designated 240 for entering numeric data such as chan nel number The present invention is directed to a channel number data entry system for a television receiver employing a numeric key
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