Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/439—Processing of audio elementary streams
  • H04N21/4396—Processing of audio elementary streams by muting the audio signal
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
  • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
  • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
  • H04N21/454—Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
  • H04N21/454—Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
  • H04N21/4542—Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
  • H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/08—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division
  • H04N7/087—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only
  • H04N7/088—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only the inserted signal being digital
  • H04N7/0887—Systems for the simultaneous or sequential transmission of more than one television signal, e.g. additional information signals, the signals occupying wholly or partially the same frequency band, e.g. by time division with signal insertion during the vertical blanking interval only the inserted signal being digital for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
  • H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
  • H04N7/163—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing by receiver means only

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method of and apparatus for enabling the inhibition of television programme display in dependence on the programme content.
• V-chip V-chip
• the broadcaster rates each programme in four censorship categories.
• the values for each category are then transmitted simultaneously as part of the extended data services (EDS) of the Closed Captioning (CC) system.
• EDS extended data services
• CC Closed Captioning
• the parent sets a threshold for each category. If a rating exceeds the pre-authorised value, the V-chip; suppresses the video and audio signals. As the reaction of the V-chip decoder is near instantaneous, the system can easily handle channel hopping. Moreover, the parent does not have to worry about missing content warnings in TV guides or at the start of programmes.
• the Electronic Industries Association defines the four censorship categories and the number of data bits required to transmit the code: • MPAA rating (equivalent to film classifications, e.g. 18, PG, etc.) - 3 bits violence content advisory level - 2 bits (which allows for a scale of 0 to 3) sexual content advisory level - 2 bits mature content advisory level - 2 bits.
• CC data can be recorded and reproduced by a VHS VCR during play-back of a programme.
• recorded and pre-recorded tapes could also contain censorship data.
• the CC signal would occupy valuable teletext transmission capacity (one line would be permanently lost) and different encoding systems would be required 25 Secondly, it would be very expensive for broadcasters in terms of the duplicate transmission equipment and data bridges (in cable amplifiers) required for both teletext and CC signals.
• the invention provides a method of enabling an authorised person to disable the sound and/or visual display of a television programme or a part thereof in dependence on the programme content, the method including the steps of; i) classifying the whole and/or instantaneous content of a television programme, ii) generating code words representing the allocated classification, and iii) inserting the code words in an extension packet of a teletext signal multiplexed with the television signal representing the programme.
• the programme provider monitors the content of the programme and provides and appropriate indication of its content by means of a code inserted in an extension packet of an associated teletext signal.
• the person in control of the television set can then use this code to determine whether or not such programmes should be displayed (visually and/or orally).
• an extension packet to convey the code it is not necessary to cause a teletext decoder to look for a particular transmitted page in order to carry out the editing function and consequently the teletext decoder can continue with the task of looking for pages selected by the viewer, for example particularly where mixed text and picture or "in vision" functions are selected.
• the extension packet may be packet 8/30 format 1.
• This packet is normally transmitted once per second and consequently the classification can easily be changed at that rate if desired. This enables the occasional occurrence of possibly offensive events to be edited out while still allowing viewing of the programme as a whole.
• news and current affairs programmes may include distressing or offensive scenes, such as incidents from war zones, as relatively short portions of the programme as a whole.
• the packet may be transmitted more frequently to enable even shorter events, such as a single word, to be deleted.
• the method may include the further step of generating error correction bits for insertion in the packet with the code words.
• the code words are protected by means of a Hamming code, the code words being 4/8 Hamming coded. This enables secure reception of the classification codes and consequently minimises the possibility of disabling or allowing display erroneously due to errors in transmission or detection of the classification code words.
• One or more classification criteria may be each encoded using code words comprising two bits and an individual criterion may apply to the whole programme or to individual events within a programme.
• the classification criteria may include one or more of; violent content, sexual content, distressing content, mature language.
• the use of two bit code words for each criterion allows the setting of four possible levels for that criterion. For example taking the criterion of violent conduct the code 00 could represent zero violent content, the code 01 a low level of violent conduct, the code 10 a medium level of violent conduct, and the code 1 1 a high level of violent conduct.
• One of the code words may represent the region of origin of the programme, and the region of origin may be represented by a four bit code.
• the indication of the region of origin of the programme may be useful in view of the sensibilities of different cultures. Thus what is offensive to one nationality or religious group may not be to another and consequently the possibility of modifying the meaning of a particular code depending on the programme origin and the sensibilities of the controlling authority for the TV receiver could be useful. Thus certain communities may have a greater or lesser tolerance of sexual or violent conduct and by providing a region of origin code the level may be accordingly increased or decreased at the location of the receiver.
• an extension packet containing the code words may be inserted in the closest field blanking period to the beginning and/or end of an event which changes the classification within the programme which is being classified.
• Normally packet 8/30 format 1 is transmitted approximately once per second. In order to enable individual words, for example, to be disabled this is not sufficiently accurate but by causing the packet to be transmitted also in the closest field blanking interval it will be within 20 milliseconds of the occurrence of the offending word which will be sufficient to enable the word to be suppressed. Alternative words to replace word(s) deemed unsuitable for a selected classification level may be provided. These words may be transmitted on an auxiliary channel, for example that for the proposed Audetel service which provides an audio assistance signal for describing action in a scene.
• the invention further provides a method of disabling the sound and/or visual display of a television programme, the method comprising the steps of; iv) establishing the authority of the user to define the programme or parts thereof which are to be disabled, v) entering into a memory within the television receiver code words corresponding to programme content it is desired to suppress, vi) receiving television signals including code words located in an extension packet of a teletext signal multiplexed with the television signals, the code words representing the programme classification, vii) comparing the received code words with the entered code words, and viii) disabling the sound and/or visual display in dependence on the result of the comparison.
• a television set or video recorder equipped with a teletext decoder which is capable of detecting and decoding extension packets can be used to monitor the classification of a programme according to its content and if a user enters a classification which it is desired to suppress then means can be provided to disable the output of a television set or the record function of a video recorder.
• step iv) of the invention may be accomplished by monitoring a physiological characteristic of the authorised person.
• a relatively simple method of establishing authority is to issue a PIN which is known only to the authorised user.
• the entered PIN is then compared with the stored PIN (known only to the authorised user) and if coincidence is found then the classification codes may be updated.
• PIN PIN
• An alternative which requires more complex equipment to implement is to monitor a physiological characteristic of the user, for example fingerprints, voice, facial features, etc.
• the code words may be entered using a remote control unit.
• Remote control units are frequently provided with television sets and are invariably provided with television sets capable of receiving and displaying teletext data. They have a numeric keypad and thus can be used for entering a PIN and also are provided with other keys whose functions can be used for entering the desired classification codes.
• An on-screen display message may be generated to aid the entering of the code words.
• An on screen display message which informs the viewer of the reason the sound or visual display is disabled may be generated.
• Such a message will prevent a viewer from thinking there is a fault in the television set which is causing the display or sound to cease.
• the messages may, for example, be of the form "sound inhibited because of mature language", or "display inhibited because of distressing event.”
• An inhibited sound may be replaced with an alternative sound.
• the alternative sound may be defined by the received signal.
• the replacing sound may depend on the length of the passage to be replaced.
• alternative non-objectionable words might be transmitted in an auxiliary channel to replace the words not allowed by the selected classification.
• Such alternative words may be transmitted, for example, using any spare capacity in the proposed Audetel service.
• the invention further provides a television signal programme source including a teletext signal insertion arrangement, means for classifying television signals to be transmitted according to the programme content they convey, means for generating code words representing the classification allocated to the programme or part thereof, and means for inserting the code words within an extension packet of the teletext signal.
• a television signal programme source including a teletext signal insertion arrangement, means for classifying television signals to be transmitted according to the programme content they convey, means for generating code words representing the classification allocated to the programme or part thereof, and means for inserting the code words within an extension packet of the teletext signal.
• Many current television signal sources include a teletext inserter and many service providers include a means for encoding extension packets which are not page related.
• the teletext signal may be as defined in the World System Teletext Standard and the extension packet may be packet 8/30 format 1.
• This extension packet is normally transmitted at approximately one second intervals and is not page related. It is decoded by many teletext decoders and includes information as to the programme provider, first page to be acquired, and a real time clock. There are four bytes within this packet which according to the invention are used for transmitting programme classification codes.
• Means may be included for changing the classification within the duration of a single programme.
• Packet 8/30 format 1 is normally transmitted once per second and thus events can be deleted easily in multiples of a second. In addition it is also possible to transmit additional packet 8/30s and this will allow a timing to the nearest field blanking period.
• Means may be provided for error correcting the code words.
• the words maya be protected by means of a Hamming code.
• the code words may be 4/8 Hamming coded.
• the code words may comprise words defining the level of one or more of the following categories; sexual explicitness, violence, mature language, distressing images or sounds.
• news programmes may portray high levels of violence in particular reports such as from war zones. They may also contain distressing content, for example pictures of starving people as a result of famine. Other examples of material which may be distressing to some viewers include the display of operations in medical programmes.
• the code words may further include a code word indicating the region of origin of the programme.
• the invention still further provides a record carrier containing data representing a television programme, classification code words representing allocated classifications for the whole and/or instantaneous content of the programme, and an associated teletext signal; wherein the code words are contained in an extension packet of the teletext signal.
• the teletext signal may conform to the World System Teletext Standard and the extension packet may be packet 8/30 format.
• the teletext signal may be converted into a multilevel code to reduce the bit frequency of the teletext signal, in which case, the record carrier may be VHS video tape.
• the invention yet further provides a television receiver suitable for receiving and displaying television signals from such a television signal source or record carrier, the television receiver comprising a teletext decoder capable of decoding extension packets of the teletext signal, means for extracting the code words representing the classification allocated to the currently received programme, means for entering information representing any programme classification which represents programmes whose display it is desired to inhibit, means for comparing the entered and received classification, and means for allowing or disabling display of the programme in dependence on the result of the comparison.
• a television receiver suitable for receiving and displaying television signals from such a television signal source or record carrier
• the television receiver comprising a teletext decoder capable of decoding extension packets of the teletext signal, means for extracting the code words representing the classification allocated to the currently received programme, means for entering information representing any programme classification which represents programmes whose display it is desired to inhibit, means for comparing the entered and received classification, and means for allowing or disabling display of the programme in dependence on the result of the comparison.
• codes corresponding to programmes or parts of programmes which it is desired to suppress are entered into a television receiver.
• Corresponding codes are received via teletext extension packets and can be compared, within the receiver, with the entered codes to enable control of the display and audio output of the receiver.
• the codes in teletext extension packets it is not necessary to have a teletext decoder permanently looking for a particular page. Instead the teletext decoder can perform its normal function of acquiring user selected pages and it will automatically acquire the non page related extension packets.
• Authorization means may be provided for allowing only an authorised person to enter the programme classification.
• the authorization means may comprise means for entering a PIN, means for comparing the entered PIN with a stored PIN, and means for allowing the entry of programme codes if the stored and entered PINs are identical.
• the authorization means may comprise means for monitoring a physiological characteristic of the authorised person, means for storing the monitored characteristic, means for requesting a change in the acceptable programme content, means for monitoring the characteristic in response to the request, means for comparing the monitored and stored characteristics, and means for allowing alterations to the acceptable programme content in the event of a correct comparison.
• Various physiological characteristics may be used, for example fingerprints, facial characteristics.
• Fingerprint detectors are known from their proposed use with credit card verification at point-of-sale terminals.
• a means for recognising facial characteristics in disclosed in EP-A-0 551 941 (PHB33765).
• the advantage of using physiological characteristics is that they are difficult to falsify and there is no need to remember PINs or other external data.
• Means may be provided for generating an on screen display message to inform the viewer why the sound and/or display has been disabled.
• Means may be provide for replacing unsuitable words with an alternative audio signal.
• the alternative audio signal may represent alternative unobjectionable words.
• the alternative words may be received as part of the television signal. Thus where objectionable words occur they may be replaced, for example, by a bleep signal. Alternatively they may be replaced by an alternative unobjectionable word.
• An auxiliary channel which could be used is the proposed Audetel channel for transmitting audio assistance messages for the blind or partially sighted.
• Means may be provided for disabling the sound and visual display if no classification code is received with the televison signal.
• Figure 1 shows a television system for carrying out a method according to the invention
• Figure 2 shows in block schematic form a television programme source according to the invention.
• Figure 3 shows a scheme for code words for classifying programmes, the code words being inserted into a teletext extension packet.
• Figure 4 shows in block schematic form a television receiver according to the invention.
• Figure 5 illustrates a process for programming the television receiver to operate according to the method of the invention
• Figure 6 illustrates possible on-screen display messages when the method is invoked.
• FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of a system in which methods according to the invention may be carried out.
• the system shown in Figure 1 comprises a television signal source 1 , a television transmission medium 2, and a plurality of television receivers 3-1 to 3-n.
• the television signal programme source may be a normal television broadcast equipment, either terrestrial broadcast or satellite broadcast or could be the programme source for a cable television network.
• the television programme source includes a teletext inserter and means for entering programme classification codes into an extension packet of the teletext signal.
• the transmission medium 2 may take any convenient form for example it could be radio waves as broadcast by a terrestrial transmitter or a satellite transmitter or could be a cable network for a cable TV system.
• the television receivers 3-1 to 3-n are connected to the programme source via the transmission medium 2.
• a further possible programme source 1 is a video tape or disc on which a programme is recorded for replay by a video tape recorder or a video disc player in which the case the transmission link 2 may be simply the tape recorder or disc player and a cable connecting the tape recorder or disc player to the televison receiver.
• the television programme source comprises a source of video and audio signals 10 which may for example be a television camera whose video output is fed via a teletext inserter 11 to a transmission network 12.
• the audio output from the television signal source 10 is fed via a line 13 to a further input of the transmission network 12.
• a conventional teletext editing system 14 is connected to the teletext inserter 11 and has a further input which is fed from a TV access control equipment 15.
• the TV access control equipment 15 is arranged to insert into an extension packet of the teletext signal code words classifying the content of the television programme being created by the signal source 10.
• the TV access control equipment 15 has a first input 16 which receives data from a TV programme scheduling system. This data will for example provide an overall indication of the content of the programme which can be used to inhibit display of that programme at a receiver.
• the information may for example define the levels of violence, sexual content, mature language or distressing content which may occur in the programme.
• the TV access control equipment 15 has a second input 17 which receives data from pre-recorded material.
• Pre-recorded material may already include the coding to indicate the type of content present in the programme and may also include instantaneous data to classify particular events during a programme.
• a keyboard or other input device 18 is connected to a further input of the TV access control equipment 15. This is to enable an operator to insert appropriate classification codes into a live programme. It is of course necessary to delay the actual transmission of the programme by a short period so that there is time for the operator to enter the appropriate codes at the appropriate times. Such transmission delays are well known for live programmes to enable the broadcasting authority to cut out any undesirable occurrences. For example in live phone in programmes to cut out any libellous or obscene comments made by a person phoning in.
• the codes generated by the TV access control equipment 15 or received by it and passed to the teletext editing system are then inserted into an extension packet of the teletext signal. In particular they may be inserted into selected bytes of the packet 8/30 format 1.
• Figure 3 shows the content of packet 8/30 format 1 modified to enable the invention to be carried out.
• packet 8/30 format 1 modified to enable the invention to be carried out.
• it comprises a clock run in period and framing code and bytes containing information identifying it as packet 8/30, as format 1 , defining an initial page, a network identity, a time offset, modified Julian date and coordinated universal time.
• the code 00 could mean no content of that type, the code 01 a low level content, the code 10 a medium level content, and the code 11 a high content level. It is considered useful to have a coding as far as sexual and violent content is concerned for the whole programme and for individual incidents within a programme. Thus for example a parent could decide that programmes having a low or medium sexual content level could be viewed by children so long as the individual events containing sexual content were inhibited.
• the distressing content classification is likely to be only of limited duration within a programme.
• the types of content which are being considered here are for example details where in medical programmes operations are being shown. In this case viewers may well be interested in the medical techniques but find the portrayal of operations distressing.
• Other instances where distressing content may occur is in news or current affairs programmes. For example interviews with recently bereaved persons may be distressing to some people or pictures showing the effects of famine or other disasters.
• the mature language content of a programme will normally also be fairly intermittent and hence it is considered that the proscribing of a whole programme on that basis is perhaps not appropriate and that the instances which the mature language occurs can be suppressed.
• the region of programme origin code is considered useful in that different areas and countries have different moral codes and consequently what may be classified as a low level of violence in one region may be classified as a medium or even high level of violence in another region.
• the same considerations may well apply to sexual content and also distressing or mature language content. It would be possible within the receiver to modify the codes for sexual, violent, distressing and mature language content in accordance with the code for the region of origin of the programme.
• region 1 medium level sexual content may correspond to high level sexual content in region 2. It is also possible to bar programmes originating from a given region, for example for political or religious reasons.
• FIG 4 shows in block schematic form an embodiment of a television receiver according to the invention.
• the television receiver comprises an aerial 20 which feeds a conventional tuner 21 and IF and demodulator block 22.
• a combined video and blanking signal is available at the output of the block 22 and is fed to a teletext decoder 23 and a colour decoder 24.
• the output of the colour decoder 24 is fed to a video selector 25 which also receives a display signal output from the teletext decoder 23 and a blanking signal via an ORgate 26 from the teletext decoder 23.
• a control processor 27 controls in conventional fashion the operation of the television receiver.
• the processor 27 will receive from the teletext decoder 23 the codes which are present in the packet 8/30 format 1 , that is the codes representing the content of sexual matter, violent matter, distressing matter or mature language. It will also store within a non volatile memory 29 codes, which have been entered by the user using the remote control unit, which set the levels of sexual, violent, distressing or mature language content which are acceptable for display.
• the processor 27 will compare the received codes with the stored codes and depending on the output of that comparison will produce a signal on line 30 which is fed to the video selector 25 via the ORgate 26 and which in appropriate circumstances will cause the video display to be blanked. It will also feed a signal via a line 31 to an audio selector 32 which will cause the audio output to be muted in appropriate circumstances.
• the audio selector produces an output which is fed to the standard audio circuits represented by block 33 and to a loudspeaker 34, while the video selector 25 produces an output which is fed to standard video circuits 35 and to a display device 36.
• the audio selector 32 has a further input fed from a terminal 37 to which an alternative audio source may be connected. This may be for example a tone generator which replaces any offending words by a bleep or it may be connected to an auxiliary channel for example an Audetel channel to provide alternative words for the offensive words.
• the Audetel channel is a channel proposed for use for providing an audio assistance signal which provides a description of the scene to help the following of a programme by persons unable to see the display screen clearly or at all, for example blind or partially sighted persons.
• FIG. 4 shows a television receiver but the invention could equally well be applied to a video recorder. In that case the outputs of the audio and video selector circuits 32 and 25 would be fed to record heads on the video recorder. Thus only programmes having the authorised codes would be recorded on the video recorder.
• An alternative arrangement for a video recorder would be to allow recording of the received television programme regardless of the classification codes associated with it, but to record those codes on the tape so that on replay the television receiver is able to react to the output from the video recorder in the same way that it would react to a a broadcast programme. In this way a programme can be recorded for viewing by a number of different persons, each of whom may have a different allowable classification level for particular content. Thus a whole programme may be played back through one television receiver, but only a restricted version through another.
• Figure 5 A-E illustrates an on screen display sequence which enables a person to enter the codes into a television receiver.
• On initial switch on the on screen display sets out a message which invites the user to enter a personal identification number. This is assuming that authorization is checked by means of a PIN.
• the PIN may be burnt into a memory by the manufacturer who then informs the buyer of the number of the PIN so that the owner can initiate the selection of the classification.
• An alternative is to set the PIN to all zeros at the factory and for a routine to be entered into when the set is first switched on to change the PIN to any number that the user desires. Subsequently when it is desired to change the classification a key to request this is pressed on the remote control unit.
• Screens 10, 11 and 12 show the process for enabling distressing content to be excluded. In this particular case it is only excluded for the events in which the distressing content is present and not for the whole programme. It is considered that distressing content is unlikely to be relevant to a whole programme but only to events within a programme.
• distressing content may be for example the showing of operations in medical programmes or the showing of the scenes of accidents or other disasters in news programmes. These incidents will only be a small portion of such programmes and the programmes can be enjoyed readily with those incidents deleted.
• screens 13 to 15 A similar process is shown in screens 13 to 15 which enables the programming of the mature language content which is acceptable. Again this only excludes the specific events rather than the programme as a whole since the occurrence of possibly offensive words is likely to be only a small proportion of the programme as a whole especially if programmes having excessive sexual or violent content are already excluded.
• Screens 16 and 17 illustrate the programming of the region of origin. It enables the user to exclude programmes from certain regions if desired. This may be desirable for example where a particular country is transmitting propaganda material which may not contain excessive sexual content or violent content or even distressing content or mature language, but the authorised person may wish to prevent reception of programmes of such a nature.
• region of origin codes An alternative use for the region of origin codes is to modify the effective codes for sexual, violent, distressing content or mature language depending on the source of the programme.
• region A it may be desired that the level of sexual content accepted is moderate level only because what is considered moderate in region A may be considered to be high in the region where the receiver is located.
• This code of changing may be programmed permanently into the receiver or may be settable by the user.
• Screen 18 is the final screen presented and confirms the choices which have been made by the user. This screen is similar in content to screen 2 which is presented when the entry to the access control system is obtained. Thus once a setting has been made this will be displayed on screen 2 at a subsequent access.
• on screen display messages are by way of example only and that the actual messages may be tailored for particular markets and will of course be in the language of the country in which the set is located.
• the control processor may, of course, store various on screen displays in a number of different languages, the language choice being made by the user when accessing the on screen displays thus enabling a common control processor to serve sets sold in various different countries.
• Figure 6 shows examples of on screen messages which are displayed when the access control system is in operation.
• the first screen shows that the programme is not available and states that it is due to high levels of sexual content. This message will of course vary according to the reason for non availability of that particular programme and is defined by the coding associated with it.
• the second screen shows that the television is temporally blanked due to moderate violent content.
• the third screen shows similarly that the display is temporally blanked due to distressing content.
• the fourth screen shows the picture displayed with a message superimposed upon it stating that the sound has been muted because of mature language. Consequently, since the viewer is informed that the sound is temporally muted he or she will not assume that there is a fault with the sound channel of the television receiver.
• authorization of the user able to change the coding has been by means of a PIN. There are however various other ways in which a user can be authorised.
• a further possibility is to include a video camera on the receiver which will look at the face of the person wishing to change the code. The output of the video camera can be compared with a stored image within the receiver and if coincidence is found then updating of the classification code can be allowed. The latter two methods may be used for example when a personal computer is fitted with a TV programme receiver facility. The necessary processing circuits for the fingerprint or face recognition will then be within the personal computer circuits.
• the monitoring of particular pages of a teletext transmission can take place in parallel with the monitoring of the classification codes.
• the monitoring of particular pages of a teletext transmission can take place in parallel with the monitoring of the classification codes.
• the monitoring of particular pages of a teletext transmission can take place in parallel with the monitoring of the classification codes.
• the monitoring of particular pages of a teletext transmission can take place in parallel with the monitoring of the classification codes.
• the monitoring of particular pages of a teletext transmission can take place in parallel with the monitoring of the classification codes.
• the extension packet it is not necessary to have a specific acquisition channel permanently allocated to the classification code transmission.

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• 1996
  • 1996-09-24 GB GBGB9619878.3A patent/GB9619878D0/en active Pending
• 1997
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