Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION AND PRINTOUT BY
A HOME PRINTER VIA A MULTIPLE-USER NETWORK
Background of Invention
Field of the Invention
This invention is related to a method and apparatus for obtaining information
from a host
provider over a multiple-user network and for automatically printing out the
information.
Description of Related Art
The Internet is a global communications network, comprising a network of
networks
which are both public and private. The world wide web (WWV~ is a subset of the
Internet. The
world wide web allows people to jump from one server to another simply by
selecting a
highlighted word, picture or icon about which they want more information. This
is a maneuver
which is called a "hyperlink." To use the world wide web a user toads a
special navigation
program, called a web browser, onto his or her computer which is connected to
an Internet
service provider, most typically by means of a telephone line. The Internet
service provider is
connected to one of the networks making up the Internet.
More recently, some servers have provided what is called a "search engine."
These
search engines can be accessed by a user via the Internet. A search engine
allows a user to
submit information requests. The search engine then accesses a database, which
has been
previously established, looking for information which satisfies the
information search request.
These servers which provide the search engines typically update their
databases more or less
continuously with new information derived from the Internet.
Also recently developed for the Internet is "push" technology. The push
technology
allows data categories selected by a user to be delivered into the user's
computer over the Internet
or other multiple user network either at prescribed intervals or based on some
event that occurs.
This is in contrast with the "pull" technology model, in which a user
specifically asks for
something by performing a search or requesting an existing report, video or
other data type.
Browsing the web is an example of the pull model, while PointCast~ (a product
of
PointCast Incorporated) is a push model. PointCast~ was one of the first
Internet push services
to become extremely popular and offers users selected news and stock quotes
which are
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delivered automatically into a user's machine at prescribed intervals. More
recently, some
companies are offering Internet browsers, such as Microsoft Corporation's
Internet Explorer
version 4.0, which incorporate push technology so that a user can select
various information
channels which will automatically download information from those channels at
regular intervals
and display them on the user's screen.
The typical connection of most users to the Internet is via a personal
computer which is
connected through a telephone link to an Internet service provider. More
recently, however, a
company known as WebTV Networks has pioneered the Internet television market.
WebTV
Networks offers a system wherein the user can watch television and, also, from
the same
television set, access the Internet. It is often desirable to printout the
information because text is
difficult to read on a television screen. Furthermore, information presented
on the television's
screen is not portable and cannot be shared conveniently. While the WebTV
system allows
information to be retrieved over the WebTV Network and printed out at the
user's printer,
printing while online is time consuming and wastes online time.
ummar_v o'.f Invention
The above, and other disadvantages of prior art information delivery systems
via a
multiple-user network are overcome by the present invention of a system for
automatically
retrieving and printing information comprising a printer, a multiple-user
communications
network, a host server connected to the network for supplying information in
digital form via the
network in response to an information delivery request, and information
database means
connected to the host server for supplying requested information to the host
server, and a
receiving unit connected to the network and the printer for receiving the
information in digital
form supplied by the host server via the network and automatically controlling
the printer to
printout the received information in human readable form. The receiving unit
further has a user
controllable means for initiating an information delivery request to the host
server via the
network.
In the preferred embodiment, the receiving unit further comprises a display
means, such
as a television set, for displaying information including an information
channel menu presenting
a plurality of user choices of information channels and a user interface
control, such as a remote
control device, for interactively selecting an information channel from the
information channel
menu displayed on the display means, and means for sending an information
delivery request to
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the host server via the network in response to an information channel selected
by the user using
the interface control means.
The advantages of the system according to the invention are that the user
obtains regular
delivery of information, automatically, straight to the user's printer. The
delivery of the
information is fast, that is, the new story can be delivered as soon as it
happens. Furthermore, the
information printed out is customized information, that is, only news topics
in which the user has
an interest. And, of course, the information, because it is printed, is easy
to carry and show to
others.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the invention
will be more
readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of
certain preferred
embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
Brief Description of Drawings
Figure 1 is a block diagram of an information retrieval and automatic printing
system
according to the invention; and
Figure 2 is an illustration of a menu displayed on a television set of the
system depicted
in Figure 1.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Referring now to Fig. 1, in one embodiment, a user terminal 10, for example a
WebTV
Internet Terminal~, is connected to a user's television set 12. The terminal
10 is also connected
to a television antenna or cable television system 14 which provides a source
of broadcast
television signals to the terminal 10. Also connected to the terminal IO are a
printer 16 and a
user input device 18, such as a keyboard, mouse, or remotely controlled cursor
device. The
terminal 10 is connected through telephone lines 20 to an ISP host 22. The
host 22 is part of a
multiple user network, e.g., the WebTV Network. The host 22 sends information
signals via a
commercial broadcast transmitter 24 to be broadcast over an antenna 26 or
through a commercial
cable system.
The inforniation supplied by the host 22 to the transmitter 24 is high
bandwidth data
(1MB/sec.) which is embedded in the conventional TV broadcast signal. At the
terminal 10 is a
video modem (not shown) which can receive the high bandwidth signal embedded
in the
conventional TV broadcast and which can strip out the embedded data without
disturbing the
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conventional TV broadcast signal. The stripped out data is then passed on to
the television
receiver 12.
The terminal 10 is actually a special purpose computer loaded with a form of a
web
browser which presents a display 30 on the television set 12 allowing the user
to send and
receive E-mail, visit chat rooms and use net groups, fmd local sites and
services, and search and
find subjects on the Internet as well as download full screen, full motion
video and sound files.
The above-described existing system allows a user of the terminal 10 to browse
the Internet or
other information content provided directly to the ISP host 22 by a content
provider 28 and to
printout that information on the printer 16.
However, the above-described system does not allow a user to select
information from a
"push" information source and to have such information automatically sent to
the user's terminal
10 and printed out. The present invention provides this feature. In operation,
the user of the
terminal 10, using the loaded web browser program, selects from a menu 30
(Fig. 2) displayed on
the screen of the television 12 one or more information sources which are
continually updated by
their providers, e.g. CNN News, MNBC, etc. These are now being provided in the
form of push
"channels" by such companies as PointCast Incorporated or with Microsoft's
Internet Explorer
4Ø The selection is by means of commands entered via the user input device
18. A selection by
the user causes an HTML command embedded in an HTML document to be sent to the
host 22
via the network 20.
In response to the received command, the host 22 then supplies the requested
content
either from the Internet or directly from a cooperating content provider 28
through the transmitter
24 and antennas 26 and 14 to the terminal 10, where the requested information
is stripped from
the television broadcast signal. The requested information can include HTML
printing codes.
The printing codes cause the printer 16 to automatically printout the
downloaded information.
Because the printing codes are sent over the TV broadcast airways along with
the requested
information, the network 20, e.g., a telephone Line, is not tied up awaiting
delivery of the
information so that it can be printed. In practice, the user might arrange to
have the information
sent during the night, for example.
Although the present invention has been shown and described with respect to
preferred
embodiments, various changes and modifications are deemed to lie within the
spirit and scope of
the invention as claimed.
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