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:
Apr. 09, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1994
Michael P Harney, Atlanta, GA (US);
Himanshu R Parikh, Lawrenceville, GA (US);
Lamar E West, Jr, Maysville, GA (US);
James O Farmer, Lilburn, GA (US);
Mark E Schutte, Sugar Hill, GA (US);
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., Norcross, GA (US);
Abstract
Off-premises cable television pay per view apparatus is coupled between first and second diplexers of off-premises subscriber service providing equipment. The diplexers separate the transmission path between a headend and a subscriber into downstream or forward and upstream or reverse transmission paths. A radio frequency transmitter is coupled between a controller and the upstream diplexer which may actuate a selected one of a plurality of data channels in the notoriously noisy subsplit 5-30 megahertz transmission spectrum for reporting billable events. On-premises equipment is minimized to comprise only a unidirectional data transmitter. The data transmission is sent repetitively over a predetermined period of time before the data transmitter, comprising a microprocessor, turns itself off to conserve power. Thus, data transmitted from the subscriber in a first format is received at off-premises equipment, service is authorized there if appropriate, and then data is transmitted over a data channel selected so as to avoid noisy portions of the spectrum in a second format to a headend.