GB2278254A

GB2278254A - A community communications system

Info

Publication number: GB2278254A
Application number: GB9406556A
Authority: GB
Inventors: J G Rutherford
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-04-01
Filing date: 1994-03-31
Publication date: 1994-11-23
Anticipated expiration: 2014-03-31
Also published as: GB9406556D0; GB2278254B

Abstract

A communications system that combines the long distance capabilities of communications satellites 4, with a terrestrial local delivery format that incorporates a community processing facility 8 designed to eliminate the use of TV set top decoders and other electronics in the end user premises other than the conventional telephone and television sets which become integrated to give interactive capability, by multiplexing the telephones to coaxial cables 10 connected to a nearby processing point 8 which serves the proximate community with a range of wired and wireless communications services. The system also includes facilities for electronics funds transfers and responses from viewers to programmers or goods and service providers in other countries via a secure ordering, delivery and transfer system where the community point processes data and relays signals. The community facility 8 may also provide security services, relaying signals from end-user's monitoring equipment. <IMAGE>

Description

PATENTS ACT COMPLETE SPECIFICATION A TRANSBCRDER SATELLITE AND TERRESTRIAL COUNCATIONS SYSTEM JOHN GCRDON RUTHERFORD, 2 Crest Lane, Christchurch 8, New Zealand, New Zealand citizen, hereby declare the invention for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly decribed in and by the following statement: The use of satellites in geosynchronous orbit has become more affordable by communications companies due to digital and compression technologies enabling greater volumes of video, audio, and data services to be accommodated on satellite transponders.The advent of higher powered satellites especially those with spot beams capable of delivering high signal strength to the receive antennas, now permits the use of much smaller antennas. Direct broadcasting by satellites (DBS) to consumers with small dishes is an increasingly popular form of long distance delivery of communications services. Previously such services in transoceanic or transborder circumstances were in the hands of government agencies which were signatories to international conventions such as those that relate to the administration of the Intelsat satellite system, with high costs conventionally associated with government monopolies being passed on to the users in many cases.

Increasing deregulation in various countries of their communications systems and the advent of satellites launched by commercial firms such as Pamamsat have increased the opportunities for transmissions between countries and lowered the cost due to the increasing capacity brought about by compression technologies. However, increasing satellite services have not been matched by increased downlinking and terrestrial distribution, especially for those countries that do not already have broadband cables in the streets as is the case in North America.

Because of the wide coverage of certain satellites that have either global or hemispheric beams covering a variety of countries, copyright aspects have become of particular significance. International conventions and the legislation of individual countries have addressed these issues in a variety of ways. It is the purpose of the present invention to facilitate the transmission of video, audio and data services between countries in a manner tbat does not transgress international copyright conventions or domestic legislation and make provision for services received to be ascertainable and paid for in an appropriate manner in cases where signals are delivered in another country without the knowledge of the original copyright holder.It is a further purpose of the present invention to link long distance transmissions to community antenna and processing points to downlink, process and distribute to a proximate community, the satellite services that in the next decade will provide a wealth of long haul transoceanic and transborder programming.

Previously the cost of transmitting television and similar programming via a satellite transponder which could carry only one or two video programmes, was considerable. With compression technologies currently being developed, 20 such programmes can be accommodated in similar transponder capacity and the cost has reduced to a point where programmes broadcast in the United States or Canada can be received via satellite on the western Pacific rim, at modest cost particulary if they are not to pass through several hands and be subjected to profit margins by importers and distributors in other countries.It is a purpose of the present invention to lower the cost of such transborder, transoceanic transmissions and to alleviate potential copyright problems in the countries of uplink and reception by providing an integrated delivery system through to the end user without the necessity of that end user having anything other than those basic communications tools in his home or office - the telephone and the television set, as all processing will be done close to but not within end user premises and the cost of downlinking, decompressing, decoding, error correcting, subscriber management and the like are carried out remotely and in association with the "long haul" satellite delivery instead of a variety of transmissions and service providers being involved as such adds to the cost and minimises the results to copyright holders in the country of origin.

English copyright legislation was amended several decades ago to permit the retransmission of broadcast programmes to subscribers to a "diffusion" or cable service with such retransmission not thereafter constituting a breach of copyright in the primary broadcast or the rights of the original copyright holder. Similar legislation has been enacted in other British Commonwealth countries, including Australia and New Zealand. There is also similar provision in the U.S.A in the form of Section 111 of Title 17 of the United States Code (the Copyright Act). By that Section a retransmission of broadcast services by cable companies to their subscribers does not constitute a breach of copyright and royalites for the use of such material are prescribed for payment to the Register of Copyrights, claimable by copyright holders.

In British Commonwealth countries, the legislation includes measures relative to assessment of fair royalites by Copyright Tribunals or for the transmission of such material where it has already been paid for in the country of receipt, to subscribers to a diffusion cable service without further payment to the overseas originator of the programme.

Such a situation might occur where a broadcast television company in New Zealand has already paid for nationwide rights and that programme was retransmitted to subsrcibers to a cable television service in an area where the primary broadcast otherwise could have been recieved by the viewer, given appropriate over-the-air linking, antennas or other reception facilities.

As the legislation of the various countries is amended to come into line with technological development the term "broadcast" is becoming widely defined and includes a range of transmission modes. In some other countries "broadcast" covers only wireless transmission but the trend in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, is to extend the definition to include a wide range of delivery services. The Canadian legislation and the free trade agreement between that country and the U.S.A. facilitates the use of the transmission system herein described, in accordance with the example subsequently set out.

In respect to diffusion or cable services, legislation in the countries described above does not prescribe the length of the cable that delivers the service to the viewer, listener, consumer or end user but instead, some such legislation anticipates that a variety of paths may be utilised via satellite or otherwise before reaching the cable that finally delivers the service to the subscriber.

It is an aspect of the present invention that short cables will deliver the services to the viewer after reception by community antenna and processing points which further process the signals there received to make these acceptable to the television sets of the consumers or other receiving equipment appropriate to interactive video, audio and data services. In some circumstances, such community antenna and processing points would have a satellite dish appropriate to to receiving signals from powerful satellites transmitting in DBS mode.In other circumstances where signal strength from a satellite is lower and more appropriate to receipt on larger dishes, those signals can be received on a hilltop or tall building with a larger dish and retransmitted by an intermediary terrestrial station, preferably in the same, or similar super high frequencies (SHF) to those utilised by satellites, a short distance to the community processing points referred to above and thence into the cables after downconversion at such community points to lower frequencies acceptable to consumer equipment.Such reception, downconversion, decompression, decoding, reamplification, remodulation, and other processing can be carried out automatically and without personal assistance at the community processing points, also avoiding intervention by intermediaries who might otherwise increase the cost of the programming by double handling and rebroadcasting over-the-air with attendant copyright problems.

The present invention is distinguishable from DBS broadcasting which delivers a signal from a satellite direct to the broadcast receiving equipment of the viewer, as such is existing art and requires each end user to have his own dish and downconversion equipment at a cost that is significantly higher than equipment of similar type shared by neighbouring residents and remotely controlled.. DBS broadcasting does not qualify for the copyright protection accorded cable and diffusion services.

This copyright advantage is a major reason why cable companies in North America can offer multiple channels at low subscriber cost compared with those using encrypted over-the-air delivery. It is a major purpose of this invention to create mini cable systems that qualify for the international copyright advantages without costly trunking in streets and other cable company infrastructure and to capitalise on the fact that in countries that do not already have significant broadband cable infrastructure, recently developed compression technologies will make satellite delivery the predominant medium of both international and local video, audio and data delivery.

In countries where what appears to be permanent high poles and thick unsightly cables have not developed because cable television, which has become part of the American way of life, has not yet developed, there are increasing environmental lobbies against cables being laid above or even below the streets. In some countries a cable that carries the electricity necessary to power the cable amplifiers that operate in "cascades" along the trunk cable routes, is classed not as a communications cable but as an electricity cable and must therefore be buried at a depth that is below other pipes and cables under the sidewalk and there is insufficient room for those wishing to pursue this costly exercise unless they go out into the vehicle carriageway and cut through sealed surfaces and heavy base courses.

The disadvantage of the traditional long trunk street cable systems is the potential for damage by other street users and utility services. Trunk damage can deprive hundreds of subscribers of their TV service. The individual "star" cables from the community processing points, if damaged will deprive only one or two viewers of service at any time and linking between community processing points can be by microwave, laser, or Very Small Aperture Terminals (V-Sat) links to satellites.

It is appropriate to comment on aspects of the present invention that are distinguishable from the type of antenna known as a Subscribers Master Television Antenna (SMATV) where a TV antenna on a multi unit building receives VHF or UHF transmissions and splits these into similar signals for receipt by individual TV sets within the building. The SMATV does not have the collective downconversion, decompression, decoding, addressing, interdiction, and similar processing features of the community reception and processing system herein described nor the ability to deal with multi system TV,interactive video data services (IVDS), telephony integration, security monitoring, Personal Communications Services (PCS), Global Positioning Service (GPS) telemetry and control, and data storage, polling, queuing and retrieval, as hereafter described.

There is a wealth of television material attractive to viewers in the western rim of the Pacific that orginates in North America, especially themed channels of television on specialised subjects including women's, children's, educational and news programming that generally provides a 24 hour service. In view of the mass market for the programming on cable systems in the U.S.A. this programming per capita of viewers is extremely cheap and only costs a few cents per month to the cable companies delivering the service after reception from American domestic satellites or terrestrial broadcast delivery.

Such cable companies have frequently been vertically integrated into TV programming companies and have received preferential treatment in respect to programming that is not otherwise available to companies offering multi channel video services by the medium known as multi channel multipoint distribution services (MMDS). The U.S. Copyright Office has recently confirmed that MMDS services do not qualify for the privileges relating to copyright as decribed above and such companies must purchase their programming in the same manner as the broadcast operators.

It is desirable therefore, in countries that do not already have an infrastructure of broadband cable systems over or under the streets, that the delivery mode for transoceanic and transborder television services is such as to bring these services within the compass of the local legislation that protects such services against copyright infringement in the same way as programming delivered by cable systems.The cost of laying cable systems in the streets in countries such as Australia and New Zealand where much of the present communications and electricity cabling is underground, is prohibitive in many instances; is at least disruptive of the streetscape of the cities, and individual satellite dishes on houses or apartments, visible from the streets are equally unattractive and town councils are developing ordinances that favour co-location of communications and energy facilities such as electricity meter reading and local distribution.

Such councils are becoming increasingly concerned about ongoing maintenance of streets caused by subsidence of cable trenches and damage and repairs to other underground utility services. In addition to the removal of multiple unsightly microwave and satellite dishes, MDS antennas and the like, the cost of individual downconversion, decompression, decoding or other processing is spread amonst a variety of users receiving the signals after such treatment at the community processing point, centrally placed in each viewing community. The same form of community processing can take place in commmerical buildings from rooftops or in industrial developments, with similar cost savings being enjoyed by industrial or commercial firms.

International conventions have addressed the issue of transborder transmissions and international copyright issues.

In the international community dealing with such issues, it is generally accepted that where parties to conventions have appropriate monitoring and administrative facilities to ensure fair treatment of foreign copyright holders, the copyright issues will be resolved by the tribunals or other quasi judicial agencies of the country of receipt and publication of the copyright material rather than the country of origination of the primary broadcast or domicile of the copyright holder.Such a mechanism exists in those countries that exempt transmissions to subscribers to cable or diffusion systems, where royalties or other remuneration is either fixed as a percentage of turnover or similar arithmetic calculation, or where access to a tribunal is provided for assessment of a fair return to the copyright holder for what could be termed a compulsory licence used by the operator of the cable or diffusion system in the foreign country.

It is an aspect of the relevant legislation in these countries that the delivery of services by a cable is a positive connection to the end user that can be identified, and if necessary removed, if the subscriber is not making payments to the operator who in turn will disburse part of his receipts to those who deserve payment for the use of such services. In most British Commonwealth countries there are copyright tribunals which will resolve disputes and ascertain just payment for overseas copyright holders. The Articles of the Berne Convention provide that where copyright tribunals exist in the country of reception and publication, then such tribunals can prescribe fair payment for copyright material that has been published without the prior consent of the copyright holder.Now that the United States has joined the Berne Convention, the international framework will apply to the world's largest producer of English speaking TV and film programming, and transborder delivery will become easier from a copyright point of view.

It is an essential feature of the legislation that accords privileges relating to copyright in various countries to the operators of and subscribers to cable systems, that the audience for the programming be ascertainable. The reporting and accounting that can be achieved by having the subscriber management and remote "addressing" at community processing points serving premises in the proximate area is much more secure than can be achieved with portable addressable home decoder boxes which have been used up to this time, as such can be tampered with, removed to other countries or replaced by "pirate" boxes.Further, for added security, it is a feature of this invention that an integrated and secure phone ordering system through to the community processing point adds incrementally to what is a very secure delivery system which includes tamper free processing and addressing at the community point so that the operator knows the signals have gone first to the right community point where a double check takes place and the signals carry on to the correct end user. Only by such scrupulous attention to security will the international system of compulsory licensing for cable systems remain acceptable to the international program community. The present invention offers the most secure and fastest direct payment system for programmers yet devised.

In practice, the payment for a programme received off satellite in a country remote from the point of origin, would be the same payment per subscriber as the originator of the programme would expect in his home country from cable system subscribers and therefore he will receive the same payment from what is an extended and international audience. In some cases where retransmisssion of such programmes is the retransmission of programming that includes advertising, the extended reach of the advertiser into another country is attractive to both the advertiser and the television station initially running the advertising which can, because of the extended audience, seek higher payment from its advertisers.

It is expected that as such transborder transmissions increase, the format of advertising on television will change from national to international and the administration and cost of production of such advertising will reduce proportionately, with beneficial results to the advertiser and the primary broadcaster.

In cases where the satellite signal strength on the ground at the reception point is not sufficicnt to enable dishes of a size appropriate to location in city blocks of houses, factories or commerical buildings in the form referred to above as community antenna and processing points, it is anticipated that larger dishes at intermediary terrestrial stations on hilltops, tall buildings or towers, having line of sight to the community antennas and processing points, would be utilised so that the super high frequency transmissions in C-Band, Ku-Band, and the like, can be received on dishes of a size effective to give rctransmission quality and thence be retransmitted to the community processing points in similar super high frequency, because of the general shortage of lower frequencies as currently utilised by television sets in the UHF and VHF bands.

In respect to the return path from the viewer or computer user transmitting a response to TV or similar programming to the community antenna and processing point, such would conventionally be a digitised transmission on frequencies that would most likely be in the 900 NHz region or possibly as high as 3 GHz depending on other spectrum use in the local area. Convcrsely transmissions in low frequencies such as 50 to 100 ARiz would be be an alternative for such Interactive Video Data Services (IVDS) and such transmissions would be to a community processing point generally not further than 300 metres in city block situations, with a transmission power level of around 10 mw.Yet a further alternative is the use of frequencies exempt from licence as low radiation devices where most countries permit devices with low radiated power to use portions of the spectrum that are not used for other transmissions of higher power and an example of this type of usage is spread spectrum devices and cordless telephones.

Transmissions up to power levels of 20w could be tolerated in more sparscly settled areas, without causing interference to other spectrum users. In such cases the community antenna and processing points will be much more widely spaced. The antenna at the community processing point should preferably be on a 10 metre pole or similar to optimise the signal received at that point, and clear local obstructions such as nearby buildings and trces.

Return transmissions from the viewer must identify the viewer to take operator of the TV service or other service or goods provider and this will be achieved by preprogrammed details of name, address, bank card or bank transfer details being transmitted in a millisecond digitised burst to the community antenna and thence transmitted to the relevant parties. The operator's computer system will include file scrvcrs that keep the accounts of the individual users and particularly in respect to Pay Pcr View requcsts,not only record the charge to the viewer but also transfer the royalty or other profit share to the bank account of the overseas program provider or copyright holder.

Depending on currency exchange control regulations of any relevant country, a bank account for the programmer may need to be opened in the country where the programming is transmitted to the subscribers to the cellular cable system herein described pending approval for transmission to the programmer by central banking authorities. In countries such as New Zealand where no such controls apply, the funds could be remitted at short intervals by bank transfer to overseas accounts.

Similarly percentages of turnover in similar style to the per capita payments that go to U.S. program providers and the U.S. Copyright Office (where appropriate) can be automatically diverted as funds come in from subscribers, to those originators of programs and copyright holders in the foreign countries on the same basis as they would have been paid from their local audiences. By establishing such a bona fide computerised system, overseas program providers and copyright holders, when appraised of the copyright protection afforded by the method of delivery and receipt described above, will cooperate in the provision of programming to the mutual advantage of all concerned.

The community antenna and processing points are preferably in positions in each city block that enable their antennas to have line of sight with transmit antennas, either from satellite or intermediary terrestrial stations, to optimise the quality of the picture or other signal transmitted to the viewer from the community processing point either by wireless or wired means.Where matters of copyright are not in issue, retransmission from the community antenna and processing point to the individual end user can be by radio. The most significant aspect of the community antenna and processing facilities, is the concept of bringing a number of services close to the homes or commercial premises of the end users, but placing such facilities in a position where they can be maintained and the electronics equipment modified without the need to enter private premises and recover or change equipment as technology advances, and set top boxes, recorders or other decoders and processors made for the consumer market become obsolescent and need replacing.Much of the industry that delivers television via cable or through the radio spectrum in North America is driven by companies which make their money out of selling ever more sophisticated home decoders, processors and computer like devices that bewilder the end user and are designed to be used in association with the television set and to provide additional television programming for interactivity.

It is a basic concept of the present invention that only two familiar tools are necessary in the home for providing a range of services that others deliver through home converters or processors generally known as "set top boxes". The telephone and the television set are familiar to the great majority of people, including those in developing countries who are in need of telephones and television sets but do not require the complexity or the extra expense of home equipment that decompresses, decodes or otherwise offers facilities that can as easily be supplied outside the home but in proximity to it where such equipment can be shared amongst a variety of end users and the cost reduced, by having such equipment in a common enclosure to save the need for individual casings and consumer appearance.Equipment at the community points will be of commercial quality rather than built down to a price, will do a better job of processing and subscriber management and in all respects is a more cost effective method of providing the increasing range of communications services which will develop in the next decade.

The telephone plays a very important part in this system and it is multiplexed onto a coaxial cable that comes into the home bringing some of the services. Further, it is interconnected to the television set so that both these user friendly items are enhanced in respect to their performance and integrated in a manner described hereafter. By this method, additional consumer equipment is removed because of the ordering capability that is given to the telephone by attaching it to a better quality cable and running it out to the community processing point so that the existing twisted pair cable usually connected to such telephones and going back to a PSTN switch, is removed, and instead a PBX or similar trunk interface facility is established at the community processing point for transmission to the PSTN either by cable or via the radio spectrum.

The same parameters as apply to satellites in geosynchronous orbit referred to above, will equally apply to Low Earth Orbiting Satellites (LEOS) and Highly Elliptical Orbit Satellites (HEOS) as are planned for international telephony transmissions originated by handheld cordless telephones and can appropriately be used for Interactive Video Data Services (IVDS) where a handheld remote TV or computer control used by a viewer, can activate a transmission to a nearby community antenna and processing point and then such transmission is routed either to the terrestrial station on the hilltop or similar site, or more generally, due to the lesser transmission distance as compared to satellites "parked" over the equator, direct to a LEO or HEO satellite.

Recently a free trade agreement that includes regularising of television services between Canada and the U.S.A. has set up an infrastructure that replaces a system that existed in Canada for many years that amounted to the taking of television programming across the border without payment to the broadcaster or satellite deliverer and an Authority has now been established to fix fair payment for such transborder transmissions in similar manner to the Copyright Tribunals that have such rights of intervention in other countries where retransmission of programming is also relevant.

Such legislation facilitates the dissemination of video, audio and data services on an international level but should there be any reregulation of transborder transmissions originating from a country which decides to restrict the use of such transmissions contrary to the spirit of the international convention agreements relative to the same, (for example, the Berne Convention) then it is preferable to route international transmissions of the type described above, through a third country in a form that is not visible in that intermediary country.Yet another method of clearly removing from the jurisdiction of the courts or tribunals of the country where the program originates, is the transmission of the program by frequencies not usually acceptable on public television receiving apparatus (e.g. super high frequencies) on an international satellite system downlinked in one country and uplinked again onto a satellite with spot beams or other form of transmission capability to retransmit the service direct to the community antenna and processing points for down conversion and retransmission to the individual users.Such varied paths of transmission and retransmission are helpful in establishing that it is the country of reception and dissemination to the consumer whose Copyright Tribunals or other monitoring and regulatory bodies will prescribe fair payment for the distribution of such services and be in a position to enforce that payment within the country where such programming is being published and viewed.

There have been cases in earlier years where the courts of the country of origin or uplink of the programs have ineffectively sought to police the receipt of programming in other countries to the irritation of the judicial and quasi judicial authorities in the country of reception, and transmission modes such as those described herein are structured towards clearly establishing the regulatory authorities in the country of the end user as the bodies that can effectively ensure fair payment for programming originated in another country so that the broadcaster or the original copyright holder can be assured of fair treatment, despite the fact that the program may be used under what could be described as a compulsory licence in the foreign country of down link.

As international transmissions of the type described herein become more prevalent, the need for the countries of origin to interfere in the use of such methods will disappear, because copyright holders and broadcasters, satellite operators and others who become progressively familiar with the likely use of such signals in other countries will reward copyright holders accordingly and the international use of copyright material will settle down to an acceptance of payment from users of retransmitted services in cable systems in other parts of the world, in accordance with the legislation of those countries that permit such retransmission without copyright infringement, to provide an end result whereby the viewer in one country will pay the same amount for the program as the viewer in the country of origin plus the actual cost of transoceanic and transborder transport and attempts to evade fair payment will be unsuccessful and likewise much higher charges by intermediaries in the countries of reception will also be avoided.

Overseas audiences will virtually become extensions of domestic audiences and those originating transmissions in any country in a manner that enables retransmission into other countries will reward copyright holders accordingly. Former domestic broadcasters who by these methods become international broadcasters whose programs carry advertising, will charge their advertisers for the addtional audience "reach" and programs such as home shopping will be rewarded by commissions from sales of the products offered with such commissions being as easily achievable from the credit cards or funds transfers of overseas viewers as those in the country of origin, by means of the interactive combined satellite and terrestrial transmission system which is the basis of this invention.

Traditionally the security measures applied to the delivery of television signals have simply been related to the delivery system and various encoding systems have been used, all of which appear to be able to be broken by experienced hackers. Generally this hacking is done at the set top box or alternatively the box is replaced entirely with a pirate box. This is a simple black market system whereby the makers of pirate boxes find a ready market amongst people wishing to buy equipment that will give them the programs at no cost. A first step in eliminating this piracy, is to eliminate the box from the home.

Another problem with the conventional set top box or cable converter in the home is the potential for that box to be taken and used somewhere else. This is particularly the case where satellites with comprehensive footprints that cover many countries offer the opportunity for a box that has been authorised for use in the home of an end user in a respectable country with a Copyright Tribunal and appropriate laws against theft and signal piracy, to be taken away and used within the same satellite footprint in another country where there is no control and programming is taped and resold.

The community processing system herein described which eliminates the use of the home set top boxes removes the problems described in the preceding paragraphs. It is extremely difficult to remove to another country a community processing system that is serving a number of houses or offices. It is possible to have one encryption in the delivery to the community point and a further encryption to the home with appropriate personal identification numbers (PIN) on the telephone as multiplexed onto the coax that serves both the phone and television set so that in addition to multiple security systems on the delivery system, the invention now described, has an aspect not previously used, and that is security on the ordering system because when the end user lifts the telephone handpiece, an automatic number identification (ANI) system is triggered and if he is ordering television programming, his phone number generates his particulars on the operator's computer screen so that the viewer can either orally or by use of the telephone key pad order additional programming or services and with the encryption and PIN identification, that program delivery is not initiated until the ordering protocol is confirmed as correct so that additional security is offered by this method and this is something of great interest to the movie companies considering the release of new movies to companies wanting to use satellite delivery that covers a number of countries.

One of the problems with introducing interactivity or viewer response with the use of the conventional set top box is the return of the viewer responses in timely fashion to the service provider, because if these are going into phone lines and a large number of viewers are ordering something at the same time there is a potential to jam the phone lines. Some set top box manufacturers have endeavored to overcome this problem by having the viewer's response go no further than the box on his TV set, and in such case the service provider polls the box at a later point to retrieve the information so that the viewer's request can be actioned and billed. In such circumstances an example of the request staying in the box can be the confirmation by a viewer that he wants to see a special event program.By use of his remote control and in response to a menu on the screen he presses a button that records his request and this activates the channel that has the special event on it. He views the special event program and later his account is debited for it, once the operator polls the box and confirms the use of the program.

Retrieval of information from the set top box is satisfactory in that circumstance but not appropriate for home gambling involving larger amounts such as betting on horse races, lotto or similar, and in such case if it is difficult due to lack of capacity via the PSTN to get the information immediately to the service provider so that he can act upon it before the horse race is run, then the only other alternative is to take the bet or other valuable response to a safe repository pending retrieval by polling and such a secure point is provided by the community communications facility comprising part of the invention described herein and as will be shown in more detail in the drawing appended to this specification which gives a schematic (figure 2).

The emphasis on security is accordingly further confirmed in the present invention by the delivery of viewer responses to the community processing point and either immediately transmitting the same to a service provider via microwave, phone trunk to the PSIN, or V-sat link to a satellite, but if the service provider does not require such capacity or such timelyness, he can use a cheaper system to retrieve the information at a later time and act upon it.In short, the community processing points can provide immediate transfer of information where required for a response to a game show or a bet on a horse race but otherwise a cheaper delivery system of subsequent polling still offers the security that is not otherwise available through a set top box where in the event of a bet on a horse race if the polling was done after the race and the viewer had lost the bet he would destroy the box so that the bet could not be retrieved by the operator.

A further aspect of the community processing system can be the delivery overnight into storage capacity in the system as depicted in the drawing hereafter described, so that a newspaper operator can download in compressed form, such items of his newspaper that viewers would like to print out.

Newspaper buyers do not wish to have the full bulk of the newspaper but simply want to record in hard copy, items important to them such as sports news, movie or TV Guides, weather and the like. Such viewers can otherwise see their news on the television screen. With this system the viewer can choose by the use of his telephone to dial up and get a print out on hard copy on a simple fax machine or similar printer connected to his TV set and telephone so that the few items of hard copy that he would need out of the average morning newspaper can be selected and printed out without the bulk of newsprint that in many cases is not read by the buyer of the newspaper except as to one or two minor parts and the great majority of the newspaper is thrown away thereby creating needless bulk and waste.By the method herein described, the community processing point can act as the newspaper delivery boy and the same information received either via the television set for viewing or via a simplified fax connected to the viewers telephone or other printer can deliver the chosen material in printed form.

Optical storage or other forms of programmable memory where movies or text can be downloaded and stored pending retrieval by viewers, is of particular value at the community processing points especially where viewers have requested something that can be downloaded overnight and utilised the next day and played back as appropriate. Some viewers may wish to take this material directly into VCRs that they already own or otherwise leave it at the community point and retrieve it and decompress it as required.

A further facility available at the community communications processing point can be the control of global positioning system (GPS) equipment such as the small GPS receivers now utilised for tracing motor vehicles and as these units become progressively smaller and cheaper they will be utilised in motor cars as an antitheft device so that if a car is taken from the garage of an end user he can by operating the transceiver on the community communications facilities pole, activate the GPS device in the motor car to confirm its position and if it is out of range of the transmitter on that community pole, similar telemetry and control transmissions from other similar transceivers on community poles in other areas can be operated to initiate an extensive search for the stolen vehicle and this should discourage theft of motor vehicles.

Burglars will also be discouraged by interconnecting the homes served by the community processing points to security monitoring systems of various types that can either be polled by a remote source checking on the status of homes connected to each community point on a periodic basis, or otherwise monitors can be installed in the homes of one or more of the home owners served by each community processing point in each city block, so that these wardens have the opportunity of confirming whether a home within their block has been the subject of some emergency or fire, burglary or similar before activating an alarm to the emergency services which will then be aware that it is not a false alarm and react accordingly.

Most state run emergency services will not permit alarms to be connected to their facilities because of the problem of false alarms and this necessitates the employment of security services as an intermediary between the state services and the home or office owner wanting the security. By this method the service can be run on a neighborhood watch basis or by cooperation of owners in proximity to each other in the same community and this neighborhood watch system has been demonstrated to be a deterrent to burglars where a community spirit has been developed. That spirit is assisted by the technical capabilities of the community base stations and the security monitors. It is believed that insurance companies in respect to insuring homes in blocks served by community processing stations with security facilities will lower their insurance premiums and that end users will benefit accordingly because of the visible deterrent that the community base station provides to those contemplating breaking into homes within the area covered by the community system.

It is a further feature of the invention that in addition to giving the capability of a service provider polling and retrieving information from the community points that the recording device that stores the requests or messages from the viewers, can also time record the receipt of these messages so that in respect to responses where time is significant such as answering game show questions or betting on horse races and the like, these responses can be identified as to time, so that a time recording, and if desired, printing device, can be included at the community processing point.Where such community points are in commercial areas they can include the capability of printing tickets for Lotto or other purposes and such tickets can equally be printed in the home printers or faxes attached to the system as referred to above but a duplicate print out at the community point is added security for the operator against forgery so that if ever there is a question as to whether a printout in the viewer's home is authentic or needs confirmation, the same is further recorded in the community point which is a safe repository for the information either stored in a memory or printed out in hard copy.The added security offered by this intermediary facility between the service provider and the end user gives added protection especially where financial transactions are involved.

The integration of the conventional hardwired telephone into the communications system herein described is of significance as the telephone becomes not only a method of conventional telephony but the identifying implement to the service providers and a typical method of relating the telephone to the system is multiplexing it on to the coaxial cable and integrating it to the community processing system which in turn becomes part of a national or international delivery system. This is an important component part of the extensive delivery system possible by use of the long range transmissions processed close to but not within the premises of the end users.

Of particular significance to the invention is the use of digital compression and security systems in the transmissions to and from the end user, particularly for Interactive Video Data Services where the viewer is responding to an advertisement that has reached him from a foreign country and his desire is to arrange an electronic funds transfer from a bank account or make a credit card purchase. Use of a Data Pncryption Standard (DES) algorithms is one method but a better alternative system is to encode the channel rather than the individual transmission which is masked by the injection of random Gaussian noise so that the system acts as a combination encryptor, bit error corrector and convolution encoder. When this system is used in all-digital form, two bits or four bits are transmitted in the channel for each bit of the data in this form.Error correcting capacity of the four bit version is better than the two bits per bit version and error correction is of considerable importance in ensuring accuracy and security of transmission in the terrestrial and satellite transmission system herein described, particularly at the low power initiation point of the interactive response by the viewer or computer user. The initiator of the interactive response would conventionally have his preferred form of funds transfer and other details such as PIN number programmed into a millisecond burst that creates the purchase transaction in what would be an international purchase or instruction to the service or goods provider.The utmost security is clearly needed for such a transmission to avoid piracy of financial data, and it is a purpose of this invention to provide this security for such international transmissions in this combined satellite and terrestrial communications system.

The satellite and terrestrial communication system herein described minimiscs the need to have circuitry that changes frequencies, remodulates and otherwise multiply processcs the signal into different forms at different points of the transmission path. The guardband SHF frequencies in either C-Band or KU-Band can be used in varying polarities to convey the satellite signals after downlink, by terrestrial retransmission from a hilltop or similar, to the community antenna and processing point and at that latter point only is down conversion, remodulation or other transformation needed to put the signal into the cable (or where appropriate transmit by radio) a short distance to the end user, in form appropriate for his receiving equipment.

In view of the fact that the rctransmission from the hilltop or tall building where the larger satellite dish is located, to the community antenna and processing point is an almost horizontal transmission as opposed to a more vertical one up to the satellite the potential for co-channel interference is minimised and spectrum space is conserved by this mode. In some cases different SHF frequencies will be used to avoid co-channel interference with the terrestrial parts of the transmission to the individual base stations but in general these transmissions will be at higher frequencies then are conventionally accepted by television sets because of the shortage of the lower broadcast frequencies.The advantage of the community antenna and processing points is the ability to process and down convert signals for a variety of end users without having complex down conversion or decompression equipment on television sets.

The International Table of Frequency Allocations as contained in Article 8 of the Radio Regulations , Geneva 1986 prescribes various frequency bands for fixed services in the microwave frequencies and in respect to those frequencies above 3GHz these have traditionally been used for point to point links for video between hubs or exchanges. With the use of a directional antenna that avoids other point to point transmissions on similar frequencies in any area, a 20 or 30degree arc can generally be transmitted to multiple community processing sites within that arc and similar arcs radiating out from the same terrestrial transmit site can cover others in other directions. This variant on point to point transmission links is still not a broadcast transmission or even a multipoint transmission in the context of a multipoint distribution service which goes to the end user.Rather it is a point to several point system which should be acceptable to the spectrum management bureaucrats as a useful deployment of the upper microwave spectrum especially as such microwave point to point links (such as to TV cable hubs) are being phased out in North America as more fibreoptic cabling is laid and microwave transmitters are becoming redundant in large numbers. With horn antennas that distribute a shorter distance in a segment, especially where the transmission is analog AM, only downconversion is needed at the community processing point before the signal is accepted by the TV set and no modulation or remodulation is needed, as is the requirement with FM or digital transmissions. It is a desirable aspect of the invention that for terrestrial retransmission, analog AM in 12.75 - 13.25GHz bands as used for cable hub linking, is the format appropriate to minimise processing before delivery to the end user A significant aspect of the invention is the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) relationship between program provider and/or copyright holder, the operator of the satellite/terrestrial communication system described herein, and the viewer in the foreign country. A cost effective, secure, and prompt system of payment for the program provider is an essential feature of any successful international program distribution system. Previously much programming attractive to overseas audiences has not left the country of origin because of copyright and payment uncertainties.The copyright aspects have been clarified by the method outlined above and the payment format is described hereafter.

There are several major sources of programming and the most universally popular are the feature films (movies). The movie studios have traditionally seen theatrical release as their first and most significant source of cashflow. Home Video is gaining in strength as a revenue source for the studios and so is direct to home pay-per-view cable systems or satellites, particularly in North America. Compression technologies are paving the way for significant increases in the revenue the studios will gain from satellite transmissions of the type currently offered by TVN Entertainment of Burbank California (in which Paramount has an interest) which beams ten "blockbuster" recent release movies in 24 hour non stop mode to home dish owners. There are more ambitions projects planned offering large numbers of movies in similar form from DBS satellites.Due to the limited number of movie theatres in most cities, the concept of being able to offer dozens of movies at one time is attractive to viewers because of the added choice and the convenience and lower cost of viewing the latest offerings at home. It is anticipated that movie studios will see home distribution of this type as an increasingly large revenue earner providing the system is secure and the payment prompt.

The purchase of pay-per-view movies by the viewer sending a millisecond burst of his requirement and payment by instant bank transfer (EFTPC6 style) or credit card debit, is a secure transmission by the use of the error correcting, Gaussian noise injection system described above, which is preferred over other encryption systems because of the handshaking capability that ensures the transmission reaches its destination securely and uncorrupted. Immediately payment is received by the operator, his computer system apportions the payment in the way required by the program provider, who receives his payment simultaneously with the operator, through an EDI transaction.In short, the movie studio should receive payment from the operator of such a system in a foreign country, quicker than it would have an accounting and payment from movie theatres in the country of origin. This cashflow benefit should ensure the best and latest movies are made available to operators using this system.

Movies are a simple case compared to some programming which may be utilised under compulsory licensing similar to the radio stations playing records and paying a percentage of turnover to performing rights societies subsequently. Where no clear ownership of the program (or the music in it) at the time it is taken into the uplink and transmitted to the foreign country, is evident, it is desirable for an independent stakeholder to be paid a percentage of turnover for use of the program similar to what is paid to the Register of Copyrights for retrarismissions in U.S.A.In New Zealand, the Communications Institute of New Zealand, (CINZ) a non profit industry association, has agreed to act as a stake holder and follow the directions of the New Zcaland Copyright Tribunal in the event of that tribunal being asked to decide royalty or similar issues. Other countries can either make payments of royalties into Copyright Offices or independent industry associations like CINZ, where such funds are held in trust in an escrow account to meet any legitimate demands from copyright holders who have not otherwise been remunerated.

Where US cable system programs are transmitted, payment the same as affiliates of the program provider in the U.S.A.

would pay, can be paid simultaneously with the operator in the foreign country receiving payment from his subscribers, by an EDI transaction. In this way the US cable company is virtually extending its audience in the country of origin and it is anticipated that the invention herein described will stimulate North American cable companies to form joint ventures in Asia and the Pacific using the payment system described above.

New Zealand has no foreign exchange controls that would affect the transactions referred to above. Bccause of its freedom from such controls New Zealand in general and the Communications Institute in particular could become a conduit pipe for programming going into the western Pacific rim countries, from North America and Europe, with the Institute, as a non profit agency, acting as an intermediary administrator of funds claimable by copyright holders, and which are paid as a percentage of revenues from satellite delivered programming from west hemispheric beams on Pacific Intelsat or similar satellites with coverage of a number of countries.

The EDI system referred to above institutes a largely paperless billing and payment system extending from the program provider, through the operator in the foreign country, down to the viewer who starts the chain by authorising a bank or credit card transfer to obtain a program, with the funds so derived being apportioned in the computer network and a portion of those funds, also by direct bank transfer, going to the bank account of the program provider, in either a bank in the country of reception and publication, or in countries where there are no intervening exchange controls (such as New Zealand) direct to the bank account of the provider of the program, in his country.

Bank transfers authorised by interactive TV are feasible as a mass transfer of funds by viewers because virtually every adult in New Zealand has a bank account and all government pension and similar payments are made by direct credit to the beneficiary's bank account. The citizens are familiar with this type of transaction and in view of the fact that the major trading banks are members of a computerised clearing system that acts on an overnight basis, interbank transfers of this type are handled more quickly than is the case in North America.In short, the speed of transfer into the program providers bank account as compared to similar transactions in North America and Europe should establish good relationships with program providers and distributors using this mcthod of administcring subscription and pay per view programming, for distribution into countries in the western Pacific rim via satellite transponders covcring this region.

One preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 Shows a transborder, transoceanic satellite and terrestrial transmission system of which the broadcast transmission (1) from a terrestrial broadcaster in a foreign country or a domestic satellite serving that foreign country (2) is received by an uplink facility (3) with such uplink facility possibly being in a third country and at that point the signal is converted to a form appropriate to uplinking and downlinking on a satellite (4) with international beam coverage of other countries which include a country of downlink (5) where the downlinked transmission is received either at an intermediary terrestrial station on a hilltop or tall building (6) for retransmission in similar form (7) to a community antenna and processing point (8) or alternatively in the event of a high powered DBS transmission (9) downlinked directly to the community antenna and there reprocessed by downconversion, decompression, encoding, decoding, addressing, interdiction, remodulation, or otherwise prepared for transmission down a short length of cable (10) to end users or alternatively retransmitted by radio transmission to the end users (11) in Very High Frequency (VHF) or similar form appropriate to reception by the the television set, video cassete recorder, or computer, of the viewer.On the return path from the viewer, his response transmission may either be back down that short length of cable (10) or by a microcellular radio transmission (12) to the community antenna and processing point in the form of digitised Interactive Video Data which is either uplinked direct to satellite (usually a domestic or regional satellite) (13) by a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) link, or transmitted by microwave to a terrestrial hilltop station, or as a further alternative, transmitted via a telephone wired or wireless link into the switched telephone network, for transmission to the service provider or advertiser.

An example of the transmission system outlined in the said drawing would be the receipt at the uplink facility in Lake Cowichan of Teleglobe Canada which is situated in the province of British Colombia in Canada, of broadcast transmissions from a network broadcast such as that of the American Broadcasting Corporation from the nearby transmission tower at Bellingham south of the Canadian border in the U.S.A. Alternatively, the receipt at the said uplink point, of a satellite transmission from a domestic U.S.

satellite transmitting programs utilised by U.S. cable television operators from a geosynchronous orbital slot over the Equator and such transmissions are taken by Canadian cable companies which pay royalties in accordance with the format prescribed by the free trade agreement between these two countries. As the material going into the uplink would not be disseminated to the Canadian viewers, the Canadian royalty would not be applicable and payment for the programming would be negotiated in the end country of receipt and publication.

An alternative source of television programming that can be taken into the uplink facilty at Lake Cowichan, to that provided from nearby terrestrial transmissions from Bellingham, is the satellite material delivered by American domestic satellites referred to as superstations. Other satellite delivered material in either compressed or uncompressed form comes from DBS satellites delivering programming to home dish owners in North America. There are also a range of broadcast stations and cable companies in the Vancouver area and in respect to audio such as digital radio of compact disk quality, this can be brought to the uplink in a variety of ways either from satellites, terrestrial broadcasts or prerecorded.

Material going into the uplink can either be simultaneously uplinked to transborder, transoceanic satellites in "real time" or otherwise recorded and transmitted as transponder capacity is available for non urgent delivery. The trans oceanic transmission on an Intelsat or similar satellite for reception in western Pacific countries such as New Zealand will normally be in C-Band or possibly Ku-Band with the downlinking of such material, should it be a C-Band transmission, most likely achieved to an intermediary terrestrial station on a hilltop site in (for example) Christchurch, New Zealand, utilising a dish of a size capable of receiving this transmission in a quality appropriate for retransmission, with such retransmission being in the same or similar SHF frequencies, to a multitude of community antenna and processing points, that would generally be within a few hundred metres of the end users' receiving equipment.

Downconversion of the SHF frequencies to the frequencies acceptable to the consumer's equipment (TV set, VCR, or computer) would take place at the community antenna and processing point, located in metropolitan areas in close proximity to the viewers or end users, typically in each city or suburban block that is bounded by streets and serves the proximate community from a central and inconspicuous position without the need to have cables crossing streets.

Cabling in streets, either on poles or underground being disruptive, visually unattractive, and increasingly opposed by local authorities having jurisdiction over the streets Figure 2 is a schematic showing typical processing units involved in the community communications system at the community processing point in one or more enclosures, and in the premises of one of the end users. As with Figure 1, No 7 depicts the incoming terrestrial SHF microwave signals via the antenna affixed to the pole.

No.9 and No 13 are the incoming and outgoing satellite signals via the satellite antenna or antennas and No. 11 represents the transmit and/or receive RF antennas for voice and data signals. No.12 is representative of the cellular telephony transmit and receive antenna and No.14 depicts the incoming broadcast VHF/UHF/FM/AM signals on one or more receive antennas. No.10 and No.15 are incoming and outgoing cables of broadband capability coming to the community processing point with these being conventionally coaxial or fiberoptic cables with coaxial cable going from the community processing point to the premises of the end user. No.16 represents electricity cabling used for time of use recording, meter reading, security monitoring and similar data communications purposes.

No.20 represents the VHF /UHF /FM /AM broadcast reception subsystem comprising band separation, balancing, channel conversion and modulation prior to delivery to the launch amplifiers (No.31) and the addressable switching, filtering, and trapping devices (No.33) connecting the television set (No.36) the audio stereo receiver (No.37) the telephone (No.38) (with multiplex to the incoming coaxial cable No.39), the computer (No.40) the control unit for security and appliances (No.41) and the meter reader (No.42) in each of the end user premises (No.35) connected to the community system.

No.21 represents the incoming microwave processing subsystem comprising down conversion to VHF/UHF and modulation to AM for TV set use or digital or other appropriate format for storing or processing to make the signals suitable for accessing by existing telephones, television sets, and similar equipment, without further processing and tuning electronics at end user premises.

No.22 depicts the incoming satellite transmission subsystem comprising downconverters, receivers, and modulation to the appropriate TV, audio or data format, and No.23 is representative of incoming optical services via fiberoptic cable and the optical to electrical and return electrical to optical subsystem to handle incoming and outgoing signals transmitted on the fiberoptic cables (No.9) connected to this conversion subsystem. No.24 depicts the trunk interface with the PSTN comprising PBX switch or similar processing faciliity to take telephony services from the end user premises via the community processing point and transmit the same either via broadband coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable or radio frequency transmission by the subsystems in Figure 2.

No.25 is the RF transmitter/receiver for terrestrial RF transmissions, to and from the community processing system, and No.26 is the V-Sat link transceiver for incoming and outgoing signals to satellite transponders.

No.27 is the cellular telephone base station for reception of the wireless transmissons of cell phones in the vicinity of the end user premises (No.35) with such cellular base station either being connected to the wireless transmit system or the broadband or fiberoptic cable system connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or similar cellular switching central office.

No.28 is a bank of processors and memory devices for both compressed digital storage and (after processor conversion) analog storage for calling up by the end users' telephone key pads and use by their TV sets, such comprising optical, or similar storage which is linked to No.29, a bank of decompressors, error correctors, and enhancers, appropriate to decompressing incoming compressed digital signals and converting the same to analog for reception by television and similar analog equipment in the end user premises whilst the decoders in the same subsystem, similarly decode encoded signals in preparation for distribution in receivable form to the equipment of the end user.Such decompression and decoding subsystem is connected to the modulators (No.30) that format the signals onto the desired channels prior to transmission through the launch amplifiers (No.31) with such having return path capability, where necessary, for distributing signals originating in the end user premises which where appropriate, pass through the encoding, queuing and polling system (No.34) to the various outgoing transmission systems referred to above.

No. 32 is the power supply unit to power the subsystems in the said electronics enclosure and such would conventionally be supplied from an electricity connection to one of the end user premises but with solar and/or battery back-up.

No.33 represents the switching subsystem for directing incoming and outgoing signals through the communications facility for processing by the appropriate subsystems therein. Such includes the capability for subscriber management of Pay TV systems where the switchable interdiction system addressed from a remote control point or headend can supply or deny signals on a selective basis sent to end user premises. Conversely the switching system will pass signals from end users, initiated by telephone keypads or personal computers, to service providers directly or store said signals for later polling and retrieval in the encoding and queuing subsytem where, if appropriate, signals can be encoded for security or other reasons. Such signals can be queued by recording them on a time received basis to enable service providers to classify time sensitive material.

No.43 is a telemetry control system for activating and monitoring remote global positioning system (GPS) devices on end user vehicle and similar mobile equipment.

A significant aspect of the integration of telephone and television sets and the ultimate delivery of telephone and television services via the community base station through either a local PSTN or an overseas telephone company via satellite is the method of connecting these two basic household items, a schematic of the general concept of combining the television and telephone service through the community processing points or "minihubs" is depicted as Figure 3 in the attached drawing, where 44 shows the connection between the TV set and telephone in a typical subscriber premises, 45 depicts the community processing point or minihub in close proximity to the subscribers which in respect to capacity is seen as 250 as a maximum to each hub but in practice this number would normally be very much lower. 46 depicts a microwave transmission to the minihubs to and from the PSTN and in this example an AM signal in the band between 12.7.and 13.2 GHz is used but other microwave frequencies are suitable or connections between the minihubs and the PSTN can be by trunk cable either fibreoptic or coaxial. The basic processing items required at the PSTN are shown as No.47.

Three alternative methods can be used depending on the cable infrastructure from the end user to the community processing point. The first method is to utilise the standard twisted pair or other existing wires connected to the end user's telephone and connect them direct to the community processing point where the data can be processed for interactive TV use or routed to the PSTN.

The second and simplest method which involves only one cable, applies where there is a switched star configuration, which is an an individual coaxial cable carrying video, switched voice and data from the end user to the community processing point rather than a tree and branch configuration such as is conventional on the television systems used in North America.

A preferred method of multiplexing the telephone onto the cable system for both a switched star and a tree and branch cable system back to a community processing point will now be described with the cheaper version being the use of the coax cable that comes from the community point directly to each individual end user, and this system is depicted in the attached drawing Figure 4 with the numbered items in that drawing being referred to in the next paragraph.

In the switched star configuration, if the telephone does not already have built in a Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (trBMF) dialing facility,(48) this is introduced as part of the subscriber interface equipment (49) in the end user premises which comprises a small box that is connected to the coaxial cable coming in for the television set.Off hook tone is also generated (50) and passed through a low pass filter (51) and into a cable interface (52) on which the outward signal is carried to the community processing point (53) and passed through a subscriber line connection (SLC) such as an SLC 96 (54) and the digital signal so created is up converted (55) and sent out via an amplifier (56) by microwave from the community processing point to the central office of the local public telephone network (PSTN) alternatively via satellite to a similar facility in a remote area or a different country. The community processing point may also be connected by a trunk coaxial or fibreoptic cable to the PSIN.

When the signals reach the PSTN central office or similar switching and processing point, (57) they pass through a circulator (58) to a receiver;(59) are downconverted (60) and routed through a switch (61) such as a DS3 or similar then upconverted from 216MHz (62) (or higher to above 230MHz in countries where the VHF TV bands extend to that frequency) and transmitted out by microwave (63) or delivered by cable to the receiving party. The return path from the PSTN is the reverse case where either by cable or microwave the signal is received at the community processing point (64) and downconverted to low frequencies that are tapped off the cable (65) coming into the home at the subscriber interface and passed through a low pass filter (66) to the hybrid (67) at the telephone where the hearing and speaking functions are separated.

This simple subscriber interface is the most low cost method of taking the signal from the home by coax cable along with a video signal and processing the same into digitised transmission material at the community processing point.

The alternative is a more complex system which allocates the telephone at the subscriber interface an individual frequency and by the use of a pulse amplitude encoder (PAM) sends the voice imputs out digitised, to pass through the interface to the community point which in this case could be a community point not with individual cable to the end user but a tree and branch system should this be a more economic from a cabling point of view. Otherwise such system once it leaves the community point for delivery via trunk cable, terrestrial microwave or satellite through to the PSTN would be similar to that above described for a star configuration from the processing point to the end user.

It is a significant aspect of the invention that the material transmitted via satellites arrives at the community antenna without being reconstructed or passing though the "gateway" (a prerequisite of international satellite traffic prior to deregulatory moves made by a variety of countries) operated by an Intelsat "signatory" which made charges and processed the material independently of its reception by the viewer, listener, or other end user.

In the event of the transmissions from a satellite being Ku Band, then it is preferable where the signal strength at the community antenna and processing point, is sufficient to receive that material direct, to downconvert, decompress, interdict, or otherwise process at the community processing point, without the intermediary transmission from the terrestrial station on a hilltop or similar site referred to above and in the case of television programming, after downconversion at the community antenna site and any other attention as required, the programming is relayed by a coaxial cable a short distance to the TV sets of the viewers so connected to the community antenna point and this cable transmission gives the transmission the copyright protection discussed earlier in this specification.

It is desirable in the case of Pay TV to have the capability of "addressing" the electronics at the community antenna point and making the picture available to those at the end of the cables radiating out from that point, who have paid their pay-per-view payment or their periodic subscriptions. The telephone ordering system of the end users, through an automatic number identification (ANI) can also used as a further confirmation of the credit of the person wishing to use the service The type of electronics that can be used in such circumstance would, for example, be the "interdiction" system of relay controlled RF switches that control various frequencies for interdicting or blocking transmissions on coaxial TV cable systems at a point near the end user.Minor adaptations of this equipment which does not have scrambling "artifacts" on reconstruction of encrypted material, enable it to be used at the community processing points as described herein, thereby eliminating the need for electronics carrying out a similar function (for example decoding) in the premises of the end user or viewer.

The system of supplying or denying selectively the radio frequencies which carry the individual programmes, minimises the need to alter the picture from its transmission point or encrypt or encode it and the blocking or interdicting technique avoids the necessity for a decoder in the home of the viewer with such decoders often presenting problems in the hands of viewers who try to interfere with them or, should they cease paying subscriptions, make it difficult for the programme provider to recover his decoding equipment.

Where interdiction equipment is used at the community processing point, the viewer is provided with a cable which connects directly into his television set, VCR or computer, and this provides the programming he is authorised to receive in a form acceptable to the consumer receiving equipment without the need for further electronics in the home.

The RF switching sytem, or an alternative system of injecting noise on to channels that are to be denied to viewers that havent paid for them is also a better alternative to home decompression boxes and individual DBS satellite antennas, because home decompression boxes only permit decompression of one channel at a time, and the practice of recording one channel for playback later while watching another is not possible with a home decompression box, but is achievable with the processing system at the community point where all channels are decompressed and the viewer has access to a number of decompressed channels on the cable that serves his premises.

As demonstrated by the attached drawings it is a significant feature of the invention that a conventional telephone is multiplexed to the broadband cable that comes to the end user premises from the community processing point. The secure ordering system that identifies the user of the telephone when he is ordering pay per view or video on demand programming offers protection to copyright holders and movie programmers as the community processing point can be identified before the programming is delivered, as can the individual end user, so security is not related only to the delivery sysem as traditionally has been the practice of Pay TV companies, most of which have suffered from piracy through home set top boxes either being tampered with, replaced by "pirate" boxes, or taken to another country in the satellite footprint, and used for reproduction and resale of programming.

In respect to the ordering by the viewer of pay per view material, such can either go back to the community antenna point from the viewer on a return path on the coaxial cable bringing incoming video material or alternatively he can have a microcellular transmitter activated by a remote control unit similar to that which currently changes channels, but with the additional feature of being able to send a preprogrammed name, address, credit card or bank details, plus other limited response information in a millisecond burst to the community antenna point from whence this Interactive Video Data Service (IVDS) is relayed either direct to satellite or via an intermediary terrestrial station to satellite, or into the wired telephone network, for transmission to the advertiser or service provider.

High quality encryption is needed on the interactive viewer response to avoid piracy of financial data provided to the service provider, TV station (for pay per view programming) or goods vendor. A suitable form of encoding, especially for onforwarding by satellite to complete international purchases or other financial transactions, is the system described herein which creates random Gaussian noise on the transmission and also provides a key to allow a handshake between the viewer's transmission equipment and the community processing point which transmits the encoded request without the possibility of error or intervention, or receipt by a party other than the bank, credit card company or other financial institition or goods or service provider.

In regard to incoming video transmmissions from satellite to the community processing points the encryption of Macrovision of the United States which is a scanning pulse system or the D-Code encoding system (utilising DES algorithm) of Leitch Video of Canada are preferred forms of video encryption. The Leitch system in standard mode allows addressing of 40 addresses without computer and as there are 30-40 houses in a typical suburban low rise housing block, this is a convenient number to work with. Interdiction boxes typically have 8 or 16 ports so five of these compact boxes can be included in the electronics enclosure at the community processing point to deal with 40 or 80 houses. In respect to decompression, that of TV/Com of the United States is one of several suitable MPEG 2 compression systems.

In the event of Ku-Band transmissions being used on the satellite direct to the hilltop or similar site with direct view of the community points and the satellites serving the area, in frequencies in the vicinity of 12 GHz or C-band satellite transmissions in the vicinity of 3 GHz, the transmission from the hilltop site to the community antenna processing point would be in similar SHF frequencies and particularly appropriate would be the use of frequencies that act as guardbands between downlinking frequencies or other fixed services microwave bands as designated for the various regions by International Radio Regulations.Only at the community processing point will the final processing involving decompression, decoding or addressing of the signals by the operator, error correction or other picture enhancement, be carried out, prior to transmission by cable to the viewer's equipment in the manner outlined above. Such minimises the tendancy to degrade the picture by changing the format of it a variety of times from the initial reception at the uplink site in the foreign country. The use of the security and error correction system described above, with bit smear error correction capability is an enhancement feature for satellite transmissions, especially where degradation of the transmission by rain fade or similar is experienced.

A computerised accounting system that creates an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) relationship among those parties that are known to have a financial or copyright interest in the TV programming used on this combined satellite and terrestrial transmission system is an important aspect of the invention, and where all relevant parties are not ascertainable at the time of use of the programming, establishing a fund with a stakeholder who can assess the claims of copyright holders who subsequently apply for payment, is also desirable, and an example of such a format is now detailed.

The source of the programming at the time of entry to the uplink is recorded by the technicians at that point and relayed to the operator in the country of receipt and publication, and such operator will in most cases have prearrangements for payment with the programme provider and where this material is cleared for use in the country of receipt, the agreed proportion of each subscriber's payments to the local operator are transferred by an automatic bank transfer to the bank account of the programme supplier, while details of such payments and the programming to which they relate are transmitted by modem or similar to the programme provider.

Where a programme is taken into the uplink that is a broadcast programme from a US broadcaster, in the absence of any alternative arrangement, the same percentage of turnover as is prescribed for payment to the Register of Copyrights in the United States of America in Section 111 of Title 17 of the US Code, is automatically deducted from the incoming subscribers' pay-per-view payments, or where a periodic subscription (for example, a monthly payment) is made by bank transfer from a subscriber, that periodic payment is subdivided into the periods of the individual programmes and an appropriate percentage automatically transferred to the bank account of the stakeholder (for example, the Communications Institute of New Zealand) which cooperates with the operator to ascertain the copyright holder, either from credits on the programme, or otherwise, so that the appropriate percentage of turnover can be remitted to the copyright holder, and in the event of no clear owner of the programme, broadcaster and/or copyright holder being confirmed, the funds are invested and held in the event of claims at a later date or paid pursuant to a direction from the Copyright Tribunal in the country of publication.

The operator in the country of reception, in the event of programming intended for distribution in North America as cable or MMDS subscription programming, shall become an affiliate of the programme provider and pay by computerised bank transfer the same royalties per subscriber or otherwise howsover, as prescribed in the said affiliate agreement for payment by local audiences in North America.

In the event of home shopping programmes being used by prior arrangement with North American or other home shopping networks, the orders for goods advertised, complete with the viewer's payment authorisations shall be transmitted via the operator in the country of reception and an agreed commission taken from the payment before being remitted via a bank transfer to the bank account of the home shopping network and/or goods vendor who processes the order and ships the purchased product to the viewer.

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM IS;

1. An unmanned community communications system for providing multipurpose communications services to and within a proximate community, including to and from communications devices of end users in residential dwellings, to provide television, telephone and data services not requiring the use of TV set top or other converters, receivers, decoders, antennas, or electronics at end user premises, other than television sets and telephones multiplexed to coaxial cable but without laying trunk cables in streets serving such premises, said system comprising:: (a) community communications pole means for supporting communications equipment; (b) electronics enclosure means located proximate to the community communications pole means for supporting and sheltering electronic equipment associated with the community communications pole means; (c) community communications equipment supported by at least one of the community communications pole means or enclosure means, comprising: antenna means supported by the community communications pole means for receipt and transmission of radiofrequency signals; receiver means connected to said antenna means and enclosed within said enclosure means for converting radiofrequency signals received by the antenna means into further signals for input to storage devices or to communications devices of end users, wherein said receiver means is adapted for converting broadcast TV signals into converted TV signals for input into conventional TV and telephone equipment of end users to integrate these items into interactive TV; and transmitter means connected to said antenna means and enclosed within said enclosure means for receiving response signals from the integrated telephone and TV equipment of end users and converting the response signals into radiofrequency response signals for transmission to an interactive TV signal source; and (d) cable means for connecting to said receiver means and transmitter means and for conducting signals, including said converted TV signals and response signals, to communications devices of end users.

2. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: a process means connected to said cable means and said receiver and transmitter means and enclosed within said enclosure means for processing a response signal for the integrated telephone and TV device of a first end user to control a selection of at least one of said converted TV signals for input into said first TV device, without the use of a set top converter as is conventionally used for selection of signals delivered by cable means, or an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) used for broadcast subscription services.

3. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: First transceiver means connected between said antenna means and said cable means and enclosed within said enclosure means for receiving from the antenna means and converting radio signals into converted radio signals for input to communications devices of end users via the cable means, which does not cross streets and for converting output signals from communications devices of end users into further radio signals and transmitting the further radio signals via the antenna means.

4. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein the antenna means comprises at least one RF point-to-point antenna adapted for receiving and transmitting point-to-point radio signals, in compressed or digital form that receives or transmits data from or to end users connected to the community communications electronics enclosure

5. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein the antenna means comprises at least one RF broadcast antenna adapted for receiving and transmitting broadcast radio signals.

6. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: processor, switching and storage means connected between said cable means and said first transceiver means for processing a first data signal received from a first end user and storing a first data transmission signal for subsequent transmission after queuing, polling, time recording, or other processing by a second data transmission signal.

7. The community communications system of claim 6, wherein the processor means further comprises an electronic data interchange (EDI) means for receiving a data transmission signal from remote communications equipment, storing such data in the storage devices within said electronic enclosure means, to establish a database for subsequent transmission to communications devices of an end user, who retrieves such data by use of the keypad of a telephone or personal computer.

8. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein at least one of the transmitter means or first transceiver means is adapted for converting response signals or output radio signals, respectively, into satellite frequency response signals, and the antenna means is adapted for transmitting the satellite frequency response signals to satellite transponders, before or after processing by processor means within said community electronics enclosure means.

9. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein the first transceiver means further comprises: SHF transceiver, downconverter and upconverter means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to the antenna means for receiving broadcast terrestrial SHF signals in higher frequency bands than those conforming to the International Table of Frequency Allocations as contained in Article 8 of the Radio Regulations, Geneva 1986, or as otherwise conventionally used for terrestrial television broadcast signals via the antenna means, and for converting data signals from a first communications device of a first end user and transmitting the converted data signals as terrestrial SHF signals in such higher frequency bands.

10. The community communications system of claim 9, wherein said system further comprises: remote communications means located remotely from said community communications pole means for relaying signals in the higher frequency bands referred to in claim 9 from further remote sources such as terrestrial broadcast antennas to the community communications pole and to said further remote sources from the community communications pole means, said remote communications means comprising a further antenna means and a further transceiver means connected to the further antenna means both for receipt and retransmission of said relay signals.

11. The community communication system of claim 3, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: compression, memory and error correction means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to at least one of the receiver means or first transceiver means for decompressing, compressing, storing and error correcting signals.

12. The community communications system of claim 3, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: encoder or interdiction means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to at least one of the receiver means or first transceiver means for encoding, decoding and blocking signals prior to receipt by end users and without such equipment as conventionally decodes encoded TV signals, in end user premises.

13. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: community routing, filtering, switching and exchange means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to said cable means for receiving data signals from a first communications device of a first end user and converting the data signals into output data signals for output to a local exchange service provider, and for receiving input data signals from a local exchange service provider and converting the input data signals and outputting them as data signals to the first communications device of the first end user; and wherein the community communications system further comprises a second cable means connected to the community exchange means for transmitting and receiving output and input signals to and from a local exchange service provider.

14. The community communications system of claim 13, wherein the second cable means comprises a fibreoptic trunk, and the community exchange means is adapted for converting optical signals into electrical signals and electrical signals into optical signals, to avoid the requirement for such equipment in end user premises.

15. The community communications system of claim 13 wherein the community exchange means is further adapted for receiving a first data signal from a first telecommunications device of a first end user; and wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: processor means connected to the community exchange means and receiver means and enclosed within the enclosure means, for receiving and processing the first data signal and controlling a selection of at least one of the further signals from the receiver means by use of the key pad of a telephone or personal computer in the premises of the first end user to activate the transmission to the communications devices of the first end user based on the processed first data signal to avoid the need for specialised tuning or selection equipment in end user premises.

16. The community communications system of claim 15 wherein the community exchange means is adapted for receiving a telephony data signal from a telephone of a first end user, which is processed within said community enclosure means rather than being routed direct from the end user's telephone to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

17. The community communications system of claim 15 wherein the processor means is also connected to the transmitter means and is further adapted for outputting a first request signal in response to the first data signal to the transmitter means, the transmitter means is adapted for transmitting the first request signal to the interactive TV signal source for ordering a specific program signal, and the processor means is also adapted for identifying the specific program signal when received by the receiver means such that the processor means controls the selection of one of the further signals from the receiver means corresponding to the specific program signal for input into the at least one of the communications devices of the first end user.

18. The community communications system of claim 15 wherein the processor means is further adapted for outputting an identification signal with the first request signal for providing information identifying at least one of the end users, an account of an end user, and the geographic location of the community pole means.

19. The community communication system of claim 1, wherein the receiver means within the community electronics enclosure is adapted for converting broadband teleconferencing signals into converted teleconferencing signals for input into processor controlled teleconferencing equipment of end users.

20. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the receiver means within the community electronics enclosure is adapted for converting broadcast TV signals into converted signals capable of input into interactive TV equipment that is processor controlled teleconferencing equipment.

21. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the receiver means is adapted for converting broadcast TV signals into converted signals capable of input into interactive TV equipment which is a personal computer in the premises of the end user.

22. The community communications system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises: power cable means for connecting the community communications equipment to a first power line supplying power to a first communications and/or energy device of a first end user, and wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: monitoring means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to the power cable means for receiving information signals from the first communications and/or energy device via the power cable means for the purpose of measuring energy consumption in the premises of the first end user via processing and storage means within said enclosure means, for subsequent retrieval by energy'service providers.

23. The community communications system of claim 22 wherein the community communications equipment further comprises: control means enclosed within said enclosure means and connected to the power cable means for transmitting control signals via the power cable means to control electrical equipment of end users.

24. An unmanned community communications system for providing security, location, and emergency communications services to and within the proximate community and administered within that community including to communications devices of end users in residential dwellings, and without laying cables across or along streets said system comprising: (a) community communications pole means for supporting communications equipment; (b) an electronics enclosure means located proximate the community communications pole means for supporting and sheltering electronics equipment associated with the community communications pole means; (c) community communications equipment supported by at least one of the community communications pole means or enclosure means, comprising: antenna means for receipt and transmission of radiofrequency signals; transceiver and telemetry means connected to said antenna means and enclosed within said enclosure means for receiving signals from communications devices of end users some of which have monitoring equipment and converting said security, GPS or emergency signals into radiofrequency signals for transmission via the antenna means to remote service providers or equipment subsequent to monitoring by approved parties within the proximate community; (d) cable means for connecting to said receiver means and transceiver means and for conducting signals, including said signals to communications devices of end users.

25. The community communications system of claim 1 where the video audio or data material processed is introduced as analog or digitised material received from a transponder on a communications satellite after uplink in another country, via an intermediate terrestrial relay station by microwave transmission or downlinked directly into the community processing system.

26. The community communications system of claim 25, whereby compressed material is decompressed and distributed directly to end users via coaxial cable to provide the cable distribution required to avoid breach of copyright in such transmissions.

27. The community communications system of claim 26, whereby data and/or voice transmissions from an end user's telephone or computer multiplexed to the cable connected to his premises, are relayed after processing by the community communications system to the communications satellite by the reverse path described in claim 25, to switching and processing devices in another country.

28. The community communications system of claim 25 which includes in the country of origin of video, audio, or data programs or similar services, computer means linked to similar means at the community communications processing point, to enable the transfer and apportionment of funds coming from end users by bank transfer, credit card debit, or other electronic financial interchange, either regionally, nationally or internationally, to remunerate programme or service providers, with agreed or prescribed royalties fees or subscriptions.

29. The community communications system of claim 28 whereby payments from end users are transferred to a government agency, tribunal or escrow account stakeholder, in the country of origin or receipt, to be held by such institution pending the ascertaining of the recipient of such payments, as program providers or copyright holders.

30, A satellite and terrestrial communications system whereby satellite dishes forming part of the community communications system of any of the previous claims, uplink signals received from the proximate housing units, or commercial premises, to satellites of geosynchronous, low earth orbit, or highly elliptical orbit for the purpose of transmission to other parties and places, said signals being received at the community processing point and/or end users associated therewith, by either radio communications or telecommunications, and converted at the community processing point to frequencies appropriate for links to said satellites.

31. A satellite and terrestrial communications system as claimed in claim 30 where the electronics at the community antenna and processing point of the system includes the capability of receiving multiple almost simultaneous brief transmissions from end users of TV, telephone, or computer equipment, and queuing, storing, encoding, securing, or otherwise processing the same in a data processor for forwarding together with recorded data confirming precise time of receipt, to master contollers at TV stations, service or goods providers such as banks or credit card agencies, where a satellite transmission is appropriate to reach the service or goods provider, either direct from the community point or via the intermediary terrestrial station, either simultaneously with the receipt of the transmission from the end user, or after subsequent polling and retrieval by the party for whom the transmissions are intended.

32 A satellite and terrestrial communications system as claimed in claim 30 where business or subscriber premises in different places and or countries, are electronically linked and the service provided is that of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and the commercial, educational, community processing point and the end user premises, are linked by the said system and suppliers of programmes or services to end users, or products to buyers, are paid for their services or products as they are viewed, used or sold, and replenishment of inventory is achieved by a continuous updating of sales relayed through the said communications system to computors of participating vendors and buyers so that a paperless ordering, stocking, and payment system is instituted, that minimises warehousing of stock at point of sale, and ensures prompt payment for television programming or other goods and services made available through the communications system herein described.

33. A satellite, terrestrial, and community communications system as claimed in any preceding claim, where the data transmitted locally or internationally is secured from intervention or interception by an encryption and error correction technology that incorporates a bit smear technology and random gaussian noise on the transmissiom channels to mask both the time and nature of transmissions, and that also offers a handshaking capability to ensure that previously identified parties are correctly linked, and in the case of a financial transfer that such takes place between the appropriate parties secure and free from errors.

34. A community communications system as in claim 1 where the interface in the end user premises for connecting the telephone to the community system comprises a coaxial cable interface that includes Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) means, low pass filter, off hook tone generator and tap to separate phone frequencies from video or other data frequencies, in cases where the connection to the community processing point is a switched star single cable to each end user premises.

35. A community communications system as in claim 1 where the interface in the end user premises for connecting the telephone to the community system comprises a coaxial cable interface that includes in addition to those items described in claim 34, a Pulse Amplitude encoder (PAM), individual frequency control and detection means to allocate each subscriber an individual identification where the coaxial cable connected to the community communications processing popint is tree and branch configuration.

36. A community communications system as in claim 1 where the telephone and television set in the end user premises is supplemented by and linked to a printer or facsimile machine so that a print out of any chosen material that has been downloaded to the community communications processing point can be ordered by the telephone or television remote control and printed out.

37. A communications system substantially as herein described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.