(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 6,701,523 Bl Hancock Et Ai
111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 US006701523Bl (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 6,701,523 Bl Hancock et ai. (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 2,2004 (54) V-CHIP PLUS+IN-GUIDE USER INTERFACE 5,583,576 A 12/1996 Perlman et al. APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR 5,610,653 A 3/1997 Abecassis PROGRAMMABLE BLOCKING OF (List continued on next page.) TELEVISION AND OTHER VIEWABLE PROGRAMMING, SUCH AS FOR PARENTAL FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS CONTROL OF A TELEVISION RECEIVER WO WO 97/46016 12/1997 (75) Inventors: Kenneth Hancock, Mashua, NH (US); Thomas Ward, Bedford, MA (US); OTHER PUBLICATIONS Douglas Macrae, Weston, MA (US); Tony Atherton; Living with the V-chip; Entertainment, The Jacques Hugon, Bedford, MA (US) Ottawa Citizen, Sunday, Mar. 9, 1996, pp. F1-F2, Section F, Ottawa, Canada. (73) Assignee: Index Systems, Inc., Tortola (VG) Glen Dickson, How's it Work? The V--chip is based on ( *) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Closed-captioning Technology, Boradcasting & Cable, Feb. patent is extended or adjusted under 35 12, 1996, p. 24. U.S.c. 154(b) by 0 days. John Urquhart, Canada Orders TV Industry to Devise Rating System for Use With the V-Chip, The Wall Street Journal, (21) Appl. No.: 09/398,963 Friday Mar. 15, 1996, A7C, USA. Statute, Sec. 551. Parental Choice In Television Program (22) Filed: Sep. 16, 1999 ming. Related U.S. Application Data Primary Examiner-John Miller (60) Provisional application No. 60/100,575, filed on Sep. 16, 1998. Assistant Examiner-Michael W. Hoye (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Christie, Parker & Hale, (51) Int.
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