GB2035756A - Improvements in or relating to a display device eg viewdata - Google Patents

Abstract

A display device for displaying information contained in a computer, eg a viewdata system is adapted to read the price of each page of information supplied by the computer and to accumulate information concerning the total price of pages viewed in an appropriate register. The device may be coin operated, credit card operated or code operated. The information may be visually displayed eg on TV and/or printed.

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to a display device The present invention relates to a display device and more particularly the present invention relates to coin or credit actuated display device adapted to display information stored within a computer.

At the present time, in this country, the Post Office are proposing to operate a computer in which persons or Companies may store information. It is proposed that persons or companies interested in receiving the stored information may obtain computer terminals and when they wish to extract information from the computer they may use a conventional telephone dial to dial the number of the computer to establish contact between the computer and the terminal and may then have access to various "pages" of information stored within the computer. It is envisaged that the computer terminal will be connected to the computer through the normal Post Office telephone lines.

A charge will, of course, be rendered for this service, a portion of the charge comprising the normal telephone charges for the establishment of communication between the computer output terminal and computer, this charge being dependent upon the distance between the terminal and the computer, and the time of day and the duration of the connection. However, a further charge will be rendered for each page of information displayed on the terminal. This charge will vary from page to page, some pages of information have a very low charge and other pages of information having a relatively high charge.

Persons or Companies storing information within the computer will, of course, be reimbursed by the Post Office with regard to the number of times pages of information that they have stored within the computer are transmitted for display to the various terminals, the reimbursement depending upon the price charged by the Post Office to the users of the terminal.

Since the Post Office will be utilising a computer, it is relatively straightforward for the Post Office to assess the charge to be rendered to each terminal user at, for example, the end of each month or at the end of each quarter, since the computer will be programmed to store information concerning the number of pages displayed on each output terminal and the price or cost of each of those pages.

It has now been proposed to provide a coin operated computer terminal for use with this system and is proposed that when a customer wishes to view pages of information stored within the computer the customer will initially insert a coin into an appropriate slot. The insertion of the coin into the slot will initiate an automatic dialling process to place the computer terminal in communication with the computer, and, if the telephone lines are not engaged the terminal is placed in communication with the computer the coin will be accepted, an appropriate credit will be stored on a memory or credit meter, and the customer will be able to call various pages of information from the computer by utilising the press buttons provided on the terminal.

Whilst it would be possible for such a device to operate on the basis that a customer has a predetermined time of access to the computer for his payment, this may well not prove to be satisfactory since some pages of information within the computer may be very expensive. Thus it is desired to regulate the number of pages of information viewed by a customer with regard to the price of each of those pages and with regard to the overall duration of operation of the machine.

The invention seeks to reduce or obviate the above described disadvantages.

According to this invention there is provided a device for displaying information contained in a computer, the device comprising means for controlling the computer to display selectable pages of information, means for isolating information concerning the price charge for the computer to supply the requested pages, and means for accummulating corresponding information concerning the price of the pages in an appropriate register.

In one embodiment of the invention the register may be a credit register, a credit being entered on the register by inserting a coin into the apparatus, or by inserting an appropriate credit card or the like. In such a case, when each page of information is displayed a debit derived from the price of the page is subtracted from the credit register. In a simple embodiment of the invention the price of each page is entered into a temporary register and this price is subtracted from the credit register as the page is displayed. In an alternative embodiment of the invention the information related to the price of each page is recorded in a debit register and, when the customer has finished viewing, the accummulated debit in the debit register is transferred to a memory maintained by the computer so that the debit can also be debited against the accound of the customer.In such an embodiment the customer would, of course, have to provide sufficient identity for the computer to be able to "identify" the customer to ensure that such debits are only debited against the correct account.

Preferably the apparatus is adapted to assess whether one predetermined character in the page of information to be displayed is a digit or a blank, and if the character is a digit, to enter the digit in a first register and to enter the next-but-one character in a second register, and if the said predetermined character is a space, to enter the next character, in a further register and the subsequent character in the first register.

Preferably the apparatus is adapted to only operate if a predetermined character is detected in a predetermined position in the page to be displayed.

Whilst the invention has been defined above with reference to an embodiment in which the price of each page is calculated in pence it is to be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable to corresponding systems in which the price of each page is calculated in another currency.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which is a block diagram of part of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.

In the Post Office "View Data" system it is proposed that the price of each page will be shown in the top line of the page, and it is proposed, at the present time that the price will be shown as forty-fourth, forty-fifth, forty-sixth and forty-seventh characters, that is to say fthe closing characters of the line. In each case the forty-seventh character, in this country, will be the letter p to designate pence. If the cost of the page is less than ten pence, for example 9.9 pence, character forty-four will be "9", character forty-five will be "." or decimal point and character forty-six will again be "9". On the other hand, if the price of page is more than ten pence, for example twenty three pence the character forty-four will be blank, the character forty-five will be a two and the character forty-six will be a three.

In a display device in accordance with the present invention input signals received from the Post Office computer are initially present on lead 1 which is connected to a micro processor 2. The micro processor is a "6802" and this type of micro processor includes a portion of working memory. The micro processor 2 is connected by a data bus 3 and by an address bus 4 to a programmstore 5, the programm store being a "2716". An extension of data bus 6 and an extension of the address bus 7 connect the micro processor 2 and the programm memory 5 to a page store memory 8, the page store memory comprisign two "2114" devices.

An output 9 from the micro processor 2 leads to the visual display unit of the display device in accordance with the present invention.

The programm memory 216 contains a program which effectively controls the overall operation of the display device, including the steps of establishing communication with the Post Office computer when a coin is inserted into the apparatus and including the control of the display device so that the display device displays the various symbols represented by the signals provided to the device by the Post Office computer.

However, the programm also includes portions which relate to the reading of the price of a page of information and subtracting this price from a credit register, the credit register storing information relating to the total credit of any customer utilising the display device at any particular instant in time.

The appropriate portion of the programm that is blown into the programm memory 5 is set out in table 1.

When a person using the display device calls for a page of information to be displayed signals representative of the page of information are supplied to the micro processor 2 through the input lead 1. The signals are stored in the page store memory 8. Whilst the initial signals are being stored the screen of the display device is blanked. The opening portion of the programm set out in table 1 relates to the checking of the page number of a page that is to be displayed against page numbers stored in a memory. If the page number of the page that has been called for by the person operating the device corresponds with the page number of a dis-allowed page as stored in the memory, then the page is not displayed.However, if the page called for is not a page whose number is stored in the memory and also is not a page that is provided with a "cursor on" signal, that is to say a response frame, then the frame is to be displayed and so it is necessary to ascertain the price of the page to enable that price to be subtracted from the price stored in the credit register.

The first step in this process is to check for the presence of a small p after the price. This is programm step zero 234. If no small p is detected in the correct position it is assumed that there is noise on the line, and thus the entire process is terminated. However, if a small p is detected initially a check is made to see if the cost of this particular page of information has also ready just been subtracted from the credit register and also a check is made to see if the "re-do" key has been pressed since if this is the case no charge is appropriate.

Assuming that it is permissible to charge for the page of information initially the first character of the price field is considered. This is programm zero 241. The price field is, the forty-fourth, forty-fifth, forty-sixth and forty-seventh characters of the first line of the page of information. Thus, the forty-fourth character is analised to see if the character is a digit or a space. If it is a space then the charge will not involve decimal fractions of a penny and so the programm branches to a XXp routine. This is the routine that is followed if the charge is, for example, 1 5p. This routine is set out as programm steps 0250 to 0255 and it can be seen that as these procedure steps are followed the character 45 is analised and is stored in a tens of pence temporary register and the next character, character 46 is stored in a temporary pence register.The temporary tens of pence register and the temporary pence register both form part of the memory present in the micro processor 2. This micro processor also includes a temporary tenths of pence register, and as can be seen programme step zero 255 relates to clearing of this particular register.

Alternatively, if the character 44 is a digit then a different routine is followed, the routine being appropriate for situations where the charge is a number of pence plus a decimal fraction of a pence. Thus the routine for X.X.p set out in programm steps zero 245 to zero 249 is followed. It is to be noted that in following this routine initially the character 44 is considered and this is stored in a temporary pence register as mentioned above, and subsequently character 46 is considered and is stored in a temporary tenths of a pence register.

Subsequently the tens of pence register mentioned above is cleared. Regardless of which of the two sub routines described above is adopted, subsequently the numbers stored in the tens of pence register the pence register and tenths of pence register is subtracted from a credit register which credit register stores the total credit remaining to the person utilising the display device.

The credit register is adapted to start with a predetermined credit and, when a coin is inserted into the machine and a communication established with the computer so that the coin is accepted by the machine, appropriate credits are added to the credit contained within the credit register.

Credits will be subtracted from the credit register firstly with regard to the duration of the connection between the terminal and the central computer, and secondly in accordance with the prices of pages called for by the customer. If, at any particular time, when the price of an incoming page is subtracted from the credit register the credit falls below a predetermined level, the screen is automatically blanked so that page is not displayed to the customer, and a predetermined brief period of time will elapse during which a message is displayed on the screen inviting the customer to insert further coins into the apparatus to prolong the time of communication with the computer. if no further coins are introduced, the communication with the computer is broken and the apparatus returns to its quiescent state.If, however, a fresh coin is inserted, the communication with the computer is maintained, further credit is added to the credit register and a "re-do" signal is transmitted to the computer to cause the page initially summoned to be displayed. A page re-displayed in response to a "re-dp" signal does not incur a specific page charge from the Post Office computer, and thus when the "re-do" signal has been sent the charge shown on the displayed page is ignored, since the charge has already been accounted for in connection with the page that was blanked out.

When a coin is inserted into the apparatus after the apparatus has been in its quiescent state the credit register initially has the predetermined number stored therein and then a number representative of the credit resulting from the coin insertion is added to that number. Any number of coins may be inserted at one time, and the device may be adapted to accept coins of two different denominations.

Whilst the invention has been described with reference to an embodiment in which coins are inserted into the apparatus, it will be appreciated that the apparatus may be adapted to operate in response to a magnetically coded card to the like sufficient to identify a customer or indeed the customer may be able to activate the device by tapping a predetermined code on the key board. In such a case the device may have a memory adapted to act as a debit register, the total debit in the debit register being transferred to a master memory within the computer for eventual debiting to the customer's monthly account, for example.

The last line of each frame or page of information stored within the Post Office "View Date" computer is at the present time, always blank. Thus it is envisaged that it will be possible to monitor the data arriving at the coin at the coin operated "View Data" terminal and when there is a predetermined delay from the reception of the last item of data it will be possible to presume that the last item of data on the page has been received and then the remaining credit in the credit meter, less than the predetermined credit that was in the credit meter initially, can be displayed upon the screen so that the customer can be aware of his remaining credit at all times.

It is to be appreciated that whilst the invention has been described with reference to an embodiment in which the price of each page is subtracted directly from the credit register, to enable the coin operated terminal to be operated at a profit it may be desirable to subtract, from the credit register, for each page viewed, a price which is slightly greater than the price charged by the Post Office, namely a price greater than that displayed in the forty-fourth to forty-seventh digits of the first line of the page.This may be achieved by causing a fixed sum to be added to the pence register whenever a "p" has been detected in the forty-seventh digit and before the sums in the above described temporary registers are subtracted from the credit register, or, alternatively, the sums within the pence registers may be multiplied by a predetermined figure, for example 1.5, the product being placed in a debit register and then subtracted from the credit register.

Many alternatives will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art.

It is envisaged that a printing device may be associated with the terminal so that predetermined pages of information may be printed for subsequent retention by the customer. The printer will be actuated by an appropriate key, and on actuation of the printer a predetermined sum will be subtracted from the credit register, the printer and the operating if the predetermined minimum credit remains within the credit register after actuation of the print.

TABLE I 0187 *SUBROUTINE TO OUTPUT CHAR TO SCREEN* 0188 F92081 20 VDU1 CMPA #$20 iS IT A CONTROL CHAR? 0189 F9222411 BHS PRCHAR 0190 F924 CE FC 09 LDX #TABLE START OF CONTROL CHAR TABLE 0191 F927A1 00 MATCH 1 CMPA O,X 0192 F9292722 BEQ FOUND CHAR FOUND 0193 F92B 08 INX 0194 F92C 08 INX 0195 F92D08 INX TRY NEXT CHAR 0196 F92E8CFC2D CPX #TABEND+3 ENDOFTABLE? 0197 FF931 26 F4 BNE MATCH1 0198 F933 86 3F LDA A #? 0199 F935DE06 PRCHAR LDX DISPT NOTCONTROLCHAR TABLE I (continued) 0200 F935 6D 00 TST O,X 0201 F9399A04 DRAA FORFLG SET BIT 7 IF IN FOREIGN CHAR 0202 F93B 94 05 AND A ESCFLG SUPPRESS BIT 6 IF CONTROL CODE 0203 F93D A7 00 STA A O,X AND STORE IT 0204 F93F 86 FF LDA A #;$FF 0205 F941 9705 STA A ESCFLG RESET ESC FLAG 0206 F943 7F 00 04 CLR FORFLG 0207 F9469607 LDAA DISPT+1 0208 F948 BD FA B6 JSR INCD1S INC DISPLAY POINTER 0209 F94B 2006 BRA VDU2 0210 F94DEEO6 FOUND LDX 1,X GETADDR OF SUBROUTINE 0211 F94F9607 LDAA DISP+1 0212 F951 AD 00 JSR O,X GO THERE 0213 F953DE06 VDU2 LDX DISPT GET CURSOR ADDRESS 0214 F955 8C DO 40 CPX #SCNST+$40 HAVE WE FINISHED TOP LINE? 0215 F958 27 OE BEQ CHKNO IF SO, GO TO ROUTINE FOR CHECKING PAGE AGE NO AND SUBTRACTING FRAME COST FROM CREDIT 0216 F95A8C DO 67 CPX #$D067 0217 F95D 26 03 BNE NXSC 0218 F95F7EF9E8 JMP SYNC 0219 F962 8C D5 D4 NXSC CPX #;POSCN-1 0220 F965 27 7D BEQCLTFLG 0221 F967 39 RTS 0222 *ROUTINE TO CHECK PAGE NO AND DEBIT CREDIT* 0223 F968 CE DO 19 CHKNO LDX #PAGEND GET ADDRESS OF PAGE NO.

ON SCREEN 0224 F96BDF13 STX XTEMP1 PUT IT IN TEMPORARY STORE 0225 F96D CE FX 88 LDX #PGLIST GET ADDRESS OF LIST OF DISALLOWED PAGE NOs 0226 F978 DF 17 STX XTENP3 STORE IT 0227 F972 OE CL1 ENABLE INTERRUPTS 0228 F973 BD FD 4A JSR SEARCH JUMP TO SUBROUTINE WHICH CHECKS PAGE NO. AGAINST THOSE IN LIST 0229 F976 OF SE1 DISABLE INTERRUPTS 0230 F977 2403 BCC ABNDT ON RETURN FROM SUBROUTINE, CARRY FL AG SE1 MEANS PAGE NO. MRS FOUND IN LIST 0231 F979 7E FA 15 JMPABORTPAGE NOT ALLOWED 0232 *PAGE WAS NOT FOUND IN LIST, SO GET PRICE INFORMATION 0233 F97C B6 DO 27 AB N DT LDA A $D027 0234 F97F 81 70 CMPA #$70 CHECK FOR SMALL P 0275 F981 2653 BNE VDU4 IF NOT SMALL P, FORGET IT 0236 F983 7D 00 20 TST DEBFLG CHECK IF WE HAVE ALREADY DEDUCTED THIS FRAME COST 0237 F986 26 4E BNE VDU4 IF SO, RETURN 0238 F988 7D 00 22 TST REDFLG CHECK IF REDO KEY HAS BEEN PRESSED 0239 F98B 2645 BNE VDU42 IF SO, RETURN 0240 *IF WE GET TO HERE IT IS O.K.TO CHARGE FOR THIS FRAME* 0241 F98D B6 DO 24 LDA A PRICE GET FIRST CHARACTER OF PRICE FIELD 0242 F99081 20 CMPA #$20 IS ITASPACE? TABLE I (continued) 0243 F992 27 OC BEQ NODP IF SO, BRANCH TO XXP ROUTINE 0244 *ROUTINE FOR X Xp FORMAT* 0245 F994971E STAA UNIT1 IF NOT, STORE IN TEMP STORE FOR PENCE 0246 F996 B6 DO 26 LDA A PRICE+2 THEN GET CHARACTER FROM TENTHS OF PENCE POSITION 0247 F999 97 1D STAA TENTH AND STORE IT 0248 F99B7F001F CLR TEN1 AND CLEAR TEMP STORE FOR TENS OF PENCE 0249 F99E 20 00 BRA VDU41 0250 *ROUTINE FOR XXp FORMAT* 0251 F9AOB6DO25 NODP LDAA PRICE+1 GET TENS OF PENCE CHARACTER 0252 F9A3971F STAA TEN1 STORE IT 0253 F9A5 B6 DO 26 LDA A PRICE+2 GET CHARACTER FROM PENCE FIELD 0254 F9A8971E STA A UNIT1 AND STORE IT 0255 F9AA 7F 00 1 D CLR TENTH CLEAR TEMP STORE FOR TENTHS OF PENCE 0256 F9AD OC VDU41 CLC 0257 *THIS NEXT SECTION SUBTRACTS THE AMOUNTS IN TEMPORARY STORE AGE FROM THE CREDIT REMAINING* 0258 F9AE 96 19 LDAA TENTH GET TENTHS FROM ACTUAL CREDIT STORE E 0259 F9BOD61D LDAB TENTH GETTENTHS FROM TEMP STORE 0260 F9B2FD7B JSR DECUSB JUMP TO ROUTINE FOR DECIMAL SUBTRACTION 0261 F9B59719 STAA TENTH STORE RESULT IN ACTUAL CREDIT REGISTER 0262 F987 96 1A LDA A UNIT 0263 F9B9D61E LDA B UNIT1 DITTO FOR UNITS 0264 F9BBC90O ADO B #0 TAKING ACCOUNT OF BORROW 0265 F9BD BD FD 78 JSR DECSUB 0266 F9CO971A STAA UNIT 0267 F9C2961B LDA A TEN 0268 F9C4D61F LDAB TEN1 DITTOFORTENS 0269 F9C6 C9 00 ADC B #0 0270 F9CBBDFD7B JSR DECSUB 0271 F9CB 97 1 B STA A TEN 0272 F9CD 2403 BCC VDU42 0273 F9CF7A001C DEC POUND DECREMENT POUNDS REGISTER IF BORRO GENERATED FROM TENS SUBTRACTION 0274 F902 86 01 VDU42 LDA A #1 0275 F9D4 97 20 STA A DEBFLG SET FLAG TO SHOW WE HAVE DONE THIS FRAME 0276 F906 7F C4 01 VDU4 CLR TEXT REMOVE SCREEN BLANKING 0277 F909 7F 00 22 CLR REDFLG CLEAR FLAG WHICH IS SET WHEN REDO KEY IS PRESSED 0278 F9DC DE 06 LDX DISPT

Claims (8)

1. A device for displaying information contained in a computer, the device comprising means for controlling the computer to display selectable pages of information, means for isolating information concerning the price charge for the computer to supply the requested pages, and means for accumulating corresponding information concerning the price of the pages in an appropriate register.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the register is a credit register, a credit being entered on the register by inserting a coin into the apparatus, or by inserting an appropriate credit card or the like, the debit derived from the price of each page, when each page of information is displayed, being subtracted from the credit register.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein the price of each page is entered into a temporary register, and this price is subtracted from the credit register as the page is displayed.

4. A device according to claim 1 wherein the information related to the price of each page is recorded in a debit register and, when the viewing of information is terminated, the accumulated debit in the debit registe is transferred to a memory maintained by the computer.

5. A device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus is adapted to assess whether one predetermined character in the page of information to be displayed is a digit or a blank, and if the character is a digit, to enter the digit in a first register and to enter the next but one character in a second register, and if the said predetermined character is a space, to enter the next character in a further register and the subsequent character in the first register.

6. A device according to claim 5 wherein the apparatus is adapted to operate only if a predetermined character is detected in a predetermined position in a page to be displayed.

7. A device for displaying information contained in a computer substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

8. Any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein.