초록 ▼

A television calendar arranged in a channel/time of day matrix for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing having a vertical column of bar codes that are encoded to represent and arranged adjacent to a vertical column

A television calendar arranged in a channel/time of day matrix for combined visual selection of programs for direct viewing and for use in automatic recording of programs for future viewing having a vertical column of bar codes that are encoded to represent and arranged adjacent to a vertical column of channel indicators and having a horizontal row of bar codes that are encoded to represent and arranged adjacent to a horizontal row of time of day indicators for the start of a television program. The arrangement of channels vertically and time of day horizontally can be reversed. A template overlay of just the vertical and horizontal bar codes can be used with a normal television program arranged in a matrix with a separate listing of day of month bar codes. Alternatively, the day of month bar code can be printed on every page of the television program arranged in a matrix and used with the template overlay of the vertical and horizontal bar codes.

대표청구항 ▼

[ I claim:] [1.] A method of controlling a VCR with a television calendar having a rectangular grid of cells arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns, a television program descriptor located in each cell, a first set of bar codes arranged along one side of the grid, a second set of bar codes

[ I claim:] [1.] A method of controlling a VCR with a television calendar having a rectangular grid of cells arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns, a television program descriptor located in each cell, a first set of bar codes arranged along one side of the grid, a second set of bar codes arranged along another side of the grid perpendicular to the first set so each cell lies at the intersection of a bar code in the one set that represents time and a bar code in the other set that represents channel, the method comprising the steps of:selecting a descriptor of a television program to be recorded on the VCR;reading the bar code in one of the sets that corresponds to the cell in which the selected descriptor is located to identify the time of the selected descriptor;reading the bar code in the other set that corresponds to the cell in which the selected descriptor is located to identify the channel of the selected descriptor;converting the read bar codes to time and channel signals; andapplying the time and channel signals to the VCR to record the program represented by the selected descriptor.