Precision Industries, Inc.

Scott D Brusaw

A billing system for billing for the use of television sets in a hospital, hotel or the like includes a computer located in a billing office and television sets located in various rooms. Command signals from the computer, video signals, and power for powering the television are all delivered to each television set over a single coaxial cable. Each television set includes a microprocessor, a modem and logic circuits which remain active even if a user turns off his television receiver. The computer may assume control over any one or more of the television receivers by issuing a slave command which, at a time specified in the command (1) turns an addressed television receiver on if it is off and (2) tunes the addressed receiver to a specific channel. The slave commands may be of two types. One type permits no control over the TV receiver by a user and the other permits a user to override the slave command. Billing for TV usage is stored in the TV set and is transferred to the computer in response to a command from the computer. Billing information in one TV set may be transferred to another set if a user should move from one room to another. In a second embodiment, power is provided from a conventional AC wall outlet but in this case the slave commands are not executed if the television receiver is unplugged.

System for controlling television and billing for its use

A cable-ready television set having a controller with first and second sets of leads for scanning a plurality of push-button switches and, in response to actuation of the switches, entering into a tuner memory designations defining which channels may be selected for viewing and which channels may not be selected, is modified by disconnecting the switches and connecting the first and second sets of leads to a first connector accessible from the exterior of the set. A hand-held programming module includes a plurality of programming switches connected to a second connector so that each programming switch is connected between one lead in each of the first and second sets of leads when the connectors are mated. The hand-held module includes a non-volatile memory for storing tier data and a microprocessor responsive to actuation of tier selection switches on the module for applying the tier data to the programming switches. Actuation of the programming switches causes the tuner controller to load the tuner memory with designations indicating which channels may or may not be viewed.

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West Carrollton, OH, United States of America

Scott D Brusaw