The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 1995
Filed:
Feb. 01, 1995
Sung J Kim, Hamilton County, IN (US);
Alfred J Schick, Marlon County, IN (US);
Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc., Indianapolis, IN (US);
Abstract
A VCR includes circuitry for controlling a cable converter unit, circuitry for detecting the presence of a television signal, and control code transmission circuitry for remotely controlling a cable converter unit. Advantageously, because the VCR is coupled to the output of the cable converter unit, the VCR can monitor the television signals received from the cable converter unit to ensure that commands sent to the cable converter unit from the VCR are executed. It is herein recognized that a skip list programmed into a VCR may be used by the VCR to control a cable box. That is, in response to a channel up command received by the VCR, the VCR would not change channels itself, but rather controls the cable box to select the next preferred channel entered in the skip list of the VCR. In this mode of operation, the channel tuning keys (e.g., CHAN UP, CHAN DN) of the VCR remote control are used to control an external source of signals, while the VCR mechanism control keys (e.g., PLAY, STOP, RECORD, FAST FORWARD) control the operation of the VCR.