Sony Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Sony Electronics Inc

Sony Corportion

Noriko Kotabe

Hiroshi Yamazaki

Yoshio Osakabe

Shigeo Tanaka

Yasuo Kusagaya

Makoto Sato

Akira Katsuyama

Kouichi Sugiyama

Koichi Sugiyama

Takashi Otani

Koji Iwamoto

Fujio Noguchi

Kazuhiko Akaike

Tadashi Kajiwara

Shigeru Maki

Setsuko Watanabe Blaszkowski

Yoko Souma

Toshihiro Imaura

Hisato Shima

Hiroyuki Hanaya

Akira Yamazaki

Richard Gioscia

Junichi Tsukamoto

Noboru Motoyoshi

Yukiko Ohkura

Kazumasa Okumura

Mark A Schaffer

Peter G Jordan

Gail Karen White

Tomoko Shudo

Kouich Sugiyama

An innovative but easy line guide is provided to provide the user of a multiple channel television broadcast system a wealth of programming information in a simple format that is easy to understand. The guide enables the user to easily select a particular program to watch. In e particular, the system provides an innovative mechanism to enable the user to scan program information of channels that the user has designated as his favorite channels. A button is provided that is designated as &ldquo;favorite&rdquo;. When the user is in a broadcast guide and selects the button, the system responds by displaying program information regarding the favorite stations at the top of the guide. Thus, the user sees at the top of the list the current programming with respect to his favorite stations, followed by program information for the remaining stations.

Method and apparatus for providing favorite station and programming information in a multiple station broadcast system

An innovative but easy to use on-line guide is provided to provide the user of a multiple channel television broadcast system a wealth of programming information in a simple format that is easy to understand. The guide enables the user to easily select a particular program to watch. In particular, when the guide is presented to the user, the guide covers only a portion of the actual television screen or display. The remaining portion of the television screen continues to broadcast the audio and video of the currently selected program. As a user scans through the guide and moves the pointer from one station to another, the system responds by automatically tuning to the channel pointed to by the pointer and provides the audio and displays the video in the portion of the screen not covered by the guide. Thus, the user can easily get an idea of the broadcast on a particular station without exiting the guide and without expressly selecting a particular channel. Furthermore, a written description of the program currently broadcasted on a station that the cursor currently points to is also shown. Thus, the user is provided the audio and video of a particular program as well as a written description of the program and the ability to easily preview another station broadcasting another program simply by moving the pointer. Once the user determines that a particular station is to be viewed, the user simply indicates selection by depressing the corresponding key on the receiver or remote control device which then functions to remove the guide. If the viewer exits the guide without selection of a station, the system automatically tunes back to the station that the system was tuned to at the time the guide was entered.

Method and apparatus for providing station and programming information

A method and apparatus for controlling an audio video (AV) system having a number of AV devices so as to cause power to be turned off to the AV devices upon the occurrence of predetermined events. That is, power for the AV devices may be turned off: (i) when a video signal is no longer being transmitted between selected AV devices, (ii) when a recording medium of one of a recording AV device and a reproducing AV device that perform a dubbing operation is at its end position, and (iii) when a predetermined time has elapsed.

Apparatus and method for controlling an audio video systems

An AV system requiring the setting of only the apparatus that acts as the AV center of the system when the system configuration is to be modified. The apparatus desired to be used as the new AV center issues a command to the existing AV center telling it to become a sub AV center.

Audio video system

An audio video (AV) equipment system with a bus line including read-only-memory (ROM) that stores a plurality of predetermined system configurations of AV component devices. The system includes a bus line, a main controller an auxiliary controller, a memory, a display, a selector, and a clock. A SIP (system information pointer) memory temporarily stores a SIP which indicates any of the system configurations stored in the ROM. The SIP is finally stored in a non-volatile memory that retains data after removal of electric power.

Audio video equipment system with bus line and method of establishing a

AV system and method of establishing a connection setting for AV

A television signal receiver equipped with a picture display controller and adapted for selecting a desired program quickly from a multiplicity of broadcast programs. In response to designation of a browsing mode, many subsidiary pictures are displayed successively under a main picture in a manner to be scrollable in any of predetermined directions. When a desired subsidiary picture is displayed within a cursor, the program being displayed on the relevant subsidiary screen is registered in a bookmark list by actuating a bookmark button switch incorporated in a remote commander. A bookmark is additionally displayed relative to the picture of the program registered in the bookmark list. Then the program thus registered is received and displayed as a main picture in response to an actuation of a jump button switch, whereby any desired one of many broadcast channels can be selectively received with rapidity and certainty. It thus becomes possible for a user to find the contents of programs in many other broadcast channels.

Television signal receiver and broadcast channel selecting method

A method of controlling signal lines among a number of audio/video units in a system where a central unit including a selector and the other audio/video units are mutually connected via a single control bus and also via audio/video signal cables includes the steps of enabling the central unit to manage identification numbers of the audio/video units on the control bus and also connection data among the audio/video units, classifying the audio/video units in accordance with the respective categories, connecting the signal line between one of the audio/video units and another one of the units, enabling one audio/video unit to designate by category the other audio/video unit to be connected and, after such designation, enabling the central unit to select the specific audio/video unit that satisfies the requirement, out of all of the audio/video units of the designated category, and then switching the selector of the central unit thereby connecting the desired signal line between the relevant audio/video units.

Method of controlling signal lines among audio and/or video apparatus

A method for signal transmission and reception by a bidirectional bus system in which plural devices performing the communication of a command and a request are interconnected over a bidirectional bus includes the steps of providing a frame of a transmission signal on the bidirectional bus the frame including an address field for designating addresses of communicating devices and a data field for designating the command or request to be transmitted, and inserting the discrimination information for discriminating between the command and the request at a pre-set position in the data field. The transmission signal including the discrimination information is transmitted over the bidirectional bus to other devices. A communication system employing such a bidirectional bus system is also provided.

Method for transmission, method for reception, method for communication

There is disclosed a communication system using a bi-directional bus, which includes a plurality of devices (e.g., TV image receiver or video tape recorder, etc.) connected to each other. Each device includes a transmit signal formation unit having a frame structure including an address field for specifying addresses of devices between which communication is carried out, a control field for specifying whether communication is carried out in the state where device on the receiving side is locked or in the state where that device is unlocked, and a data field for specifying data to be transmitted. For transmitting data having a data quantity greater than data capacity of the data field, the data is divided into a plurality of frames, an indication to lock device on the receiving side is given to control field of a frame transmitted first, and an indication to unlock that device is given to control field of a frame transmitted last. The transmit signal thus indicated is transmitted through the bi-directional bus by a bus output unit. In addition, there are also disclosed a transmitting method, a receiving method and a communication method, which can be applied to such a bi-directional bus system.

Bi-directional communication system

Connection patterns as many as possible can be managed by less standard patterns. Connected states of a VTR (30), a VTR (40), a VTR (50), a VTR (60), an MDP (70), a tuner (80) and an AV center (100) composing a standard pattern are memorized in advance. A flag (N) representing the non-use is set to an AV equipment (e.g., VTR (60)) that is not used in actual practice of the AV equipments constructing the standard pattern. Therefore, a system in which a part of the AV equipments constructing the standard pattern is omitted can be managed similarly to the system of the standard pattern.

System configuration method for audio-video apparatus with digital bus

An AV system requiring the setting of only the apparatus that acts as the AV center of the system when the system configuration is to be modified. The apparatus desired to be used as the new AV center issues a command to the existing AV center instructing it to become a sub AV center.

A communication protocol can communicate data among apparatus by a simple procedure efficiently. In an AV center (1) (D2B control unit (1a), for example, a communication mode thereof is set in the master transmission mode, and a packet of one frame is transmitted to a TV (2). In the TV 2 (D2B control unit (2a)), its communication mode is set in the slave reception mode. When a packet of one frame from the AV center (1) is received by the TV (2), a communication between the AV center (1) and the TV (2) is ended.

Communication protocol for communicating image data

An audio visual control apparatus for communication between a master device and a slave device comprises a master AV center, at least one slave device, a digital control bus line and a transmitter. The master AV center has at least a display device and a communication processor. A minimum of one slave device is provided, having a communication processor connected to the master AV center via the digital control bus line between the two communication processors. The transmitter transmits one command and/or data in a single packet from the master AV center to the slave device and vice versa through the digital control bus line.

System for transmitting command and/or data in a single packet and

A remote control method for an audio/visual system which can perform protection during execution of a system feature and is convenient in use is applied to an audio/visual system wherein each of a plurality of units of audio/visual equipment includes a microcomputer for controlling operation of the audio/visual equipment. The microcomputers of the audio/visual equipment are connected to each other by way of a bus system. One unit of the audio/visual equipment is set as an audio/visual center equipment. The audio/visual center equipment controls the entire system in a concentrated manner. The audio/visual center equipment receives remote control signals in a concentrated manner without causing remote controller receiver sections of the audio/visual equipment other than the audio/visual center equipment to function and transfers necessary commands to the other audio/visual equipment.

Growing community of inventors

Chiba, Japan

Noriko Kotabe