Michael Howard Zemering

US Patent:

47515783, Jun 14, 1988

Filed:

May 28, 1985

Appl. No.:

6/738283

Inventors:

Eli Reiter - Dix Hills NY
Michael H. Zemering - Plainview NY
Frank Shannon - Lindenhurst NY

International Classification:

H04N 5265

US Classification:

358183

Abstract:

The electronically controllable system of the invention for viewing on a television, updateable television programming information comprises a microcontroller which is partially controllable by remote control system and is updateable via telephone link, magnetic cards or floppy disks, or television or radio subcarrier, the microcontroller including input/output interfaces, a microprocessor and a RAM; a mixer for mixing a regularly received television signal with the signal generated by the microcontroller; an RF converter for receiving the radio frequency information from the mixer, microcontroller, and television antennae and properly converting the information into information which may be sent to the television; and a remote control system for permitting the viewer to direct the microcontroller to perform searches on information contained in the RAM so as to provide on the television screen in a chosen format, subsets of information desired by the viewer. The system preferably also includes a ROM for directing the microcontroller to access the information link should the RAM lose information due to power failure.