FOR ELECTRONIC SERVICES Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to financial transaction systems, and in particular, to a financial transaction system for use by customers of satellite television systems.

Background of the Invention Advances in television communication technologies over the past few years have brought a greater television programming capacity to individual users at an economical cost. Notably, direct-broadcast satellite television services have provided special events, such as first-run movies, concerts, prize fights sports events, or other not usually available programs from anywhere in the world.

These special event programs are usually televised directly into a customer's home through a connection to a local cable company, which receives the satellite signal and relays it to its subscribers. For some cable systems, when these pay-per-view ("PPV") programs are selected by a subscriber, the channel carrying the program must be physically connected to the line outside the subscriber's home by the cable company. In typical pay-per-view systems, the subscriber must telephone the cable company and request that a special program, such as a boxing match, be decoded and transmitted into the subscriber's home. Both cases involve human intervention and loss of time, which can be particularly annoying for an impulse buyer calling for a prize fight scheduled to begin in a few minutes. Moreover, customers must call the phone number every time they wish to receive a program. Telephone lines are often busy, and even if the customer gets through, the timely activation of the customer's decoder often fails. Besides major drawbacks in the ease of ordering a PPV program from the customer's side, system operators on the provider side must maintain bilJing and collection operations to receive payment for a programs and services rendered to the customer. The PPV provider must prepare and mail a statement of account after the program purchase, for which the customer can typically take up to thirty days to pay. The PPV provider must then wait several more days for a

check to clear before the funds can be used. However, if the check is returned to the PPV provider because of insufficient funds, no account, or forgery, the PPV provider must endeavor to find the purchaser, initiate collection procedures, or write off the bad debt. All of this adds a substantial element of cost to the system, involving an increased cost burden imposed primarily on the PPV provider, which is passed on to the public in an increased cost of the services involved.

It has therefore remained desirable to provide a pay-per-view program selection system which is capable of allowing the customer to order a PPV program without the frustration of calling a service representative to place an order. It is also desirable to provide a financial transaction system for charging a customer's account and for accelerating payment for such services that does not involve the delays that are inherent in typical paper-based billing systems, but which handles payments in a simple and expeditious manner.

Thus, there is a need for a more automated and user-friendly version of current PPV cable systems, which also allows more flexibility in payment. There is a need for automated billing that would allow a PPV system to charge the user for the programs purchased at the time the program is selected, such as through their credit card. Such a system should allow for prepayment for programs as well as provide for impulse buying. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pay-per-view program selection system that does not require the customer to place a telephone call to the program provider just prior to selection of a program.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a financial transaction system for pay-per-view programming which enables accelerated payment for services purchased.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a financial transaction system that allows purchasers to make payments in a simple and straightforward manner.

The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those which can be achieved by the present invention and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be

realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variations which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

In accordance with these and other objects of the invention, a brief summary of the present invention is presented. Some simplifications and omissions may be made in the following summary, which is intended to highlight and introduce some aspects of the present invention, but not to limit its scope. Detailed descriptions of a preferred exemplary embodiment adequate to allow those of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the inventive concepts will follow in later sections.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a financial transaction system for purchasing televised programs and information services having a plurality of terminal means located at a plurality of point of sale locations, for regulating the television reception of a program or information service or product; and a central processing means for communicating with the terminal means, for purchasing programs and exchanging data. The terminal has a data storage means for storing the available credit of a program purchaser; and a data processing means for comparing the available credit to the purchase price of a program, permitting the reception of a program only if the stored credit exceeds the purchase price of the program, and debiting the purchase price from the stored credit when the program or service is purchased.

Brief Description of the Drawing The invention will be further described by the way of reference to the following drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram providing a general overview of a financial transaction system for a direct-broadcast satellite television system in accordance with the present invention.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

The present invention contemplates an improved system for selecting and purchasing a pay-per-view ("PPV") program for television viewing. Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated in Figure 1 one embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1 , an integrated Receiver/Decoder 65 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown as part of a direct-broadcast satellite television system 10. It is to be understood that the following description of the satellite television system 10, related to but not forming part of the invention, is provided for illustrative purposes only. In the preferred embodiment, transmitted television signals are sent to an overhead satellite 16 and relayed to a plurality of ground-based receiver antennae 17. The received broadcast signals are then converted to analog form for conventional televisions 70. An Integrated Receiver/Decoder ("IRD") 65, which is preferably purchased by customers from commercial electronics retailers, is the primary interface between the customer and a television program provider. The

IRD 65 regulates channel reception, allowing reception of paid-for programming and otherwise blocking reception. Advantageously, the IRD 65 may also regulate other information, including menu, control, and any other digital data for peripheral devices, such as a printer or TTY terminal. The IRD 65 will typically contain a coaxial connector /interface for receiving the programming signals from the cable utility or program provider; a magnetic stripe reader; a data processing means; memory storage means; a modem; a dual-tone multi-frequency generator ("DTMF") means; a telephone interface means, such as an RJ11 modular telephone connector; a R-F modulator means; and, optionally, a data display means, and a plurality of peripheral interface means for connecting printers, general purpose computers, etc.; all interfaced by suitable means for information transfer, such as are well known in the art.

It is important to note that the particular design of the IRD 65 is not critical to the invention, and other technologies suitable for accomplishing the foregoing functions may also be used. Thus, the IRD 65 may be implemented

programmatically or by direct electrical connection through customized integrated circuits, or a combination of both, using any of the methods known in the industry for providing the functions described herein without departing from the teachings of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that from the disclosure of the invention provided herein, commercial semiconductor integrated circuit technology would suggest numerous alternatives for actual implementation of the inventive functions of the IRD 65 that would still be within the scope of the invention.

The IRD 65 down-converts L-band signals, as is known in the art, to approximately 70MHz, extracts the digital data stream, descrambles the data, error corrects the data, and finally decrypts it to reproduce the original data from the broadcast studio. It then decodes the information and reproduces the original program on the customer's television receiver 70. In addition to providing these necessary parts of data delivery, the IRD 65 may also interpret any menu information supplied and use it to interact with the customer (customer interface).

It may allow the customer to see what products are currently available and allow the customer to purchase them. The IRD 65 may also communicate with a computer control 50 and a central database ("CDBS") 51 via telephone line, whereby the customer may purchase additional programming or otherwise communicate with computer control 50 and CDBS 51.

A customer preferably interacts with the IRD 65 by way of a series of text menus displayed on the subscriber's television screen, offering the customer selections of programming currently available for viewing and for purchase. Through menu selection, a customer may also order programs or data (software, games, CD audio, programming, etc.) in advance for later viewing or downloading, such as printing the next day's program or downloading a computer program overnight when more opportunistic information may be available.

The IRD 65 includes a secure funds memory location for storing data pertaining to each customer transaction. Upon initially registering with the cable utility or program provider, a charge is made against the customer's credit

card. That amount is then transferred to the secure funds memory location of the customer's IRD 65. The customer may then make program purchases against that amount. The price for each program selection is preferably retrieved from within the menu information associated with the selection transmitted. During operation, IRD 65 acts like a video "postage meter". In contrast to conventional practice, the IRD 65 holds an available balance of credit that can be debited instantly for purchases. Since money for product purchases is allocated in advance from the customer's credit card, the IRD 65 can instantly deduct the product price from the available credit when the program is selected. The IRD 65 can continue to deduct product purchases from the available credit until it is exhausted or it has reached a predetermined level. Once the balance is decremented below the predetermined amount, e.g., $10.00, the IRD 65 may optionally make another charge against the customer's credit card or seek customer authorization before making such a charge. The present invention may further allow a short preview time for customers to view a given program before being billed. At the end of the preview period, the customer may enter an authorization code unique for that particular IRD 65 to purchase the previewed material. Otherwise, the viewed program reverts to a scrambled or encrypted image after a specified period of time. As described above, the customer's IRD 65 is connected to their existing phone line via the RJ11 connector. The phone connection enables the PPV provider to communicate with the IRD 65 several minutes each month. Periodically, it will be necessary for the IRD 65 to contact the CDBS 51 to report problems, purchase additional programming or otherwise transmit and/or exchange information. This is accomplished over the telephone lines using dual-tone multiple frequency (DTMF) sequences, where two different tones for each key pressed is fed across the telephone line.

Upon certain triggering events, for example low funds, the IRD 65 retrieves a phone number for the central controller 50 from the memory storage within, and establishes communications with CDBS 51 via the DTMF interface, which allows both the sending and receiving of DTMF signals over a connected

telephone line. The IRD 65 is then connected to the CDBS 51 via the internal modem. Preferably, the IRD 65 only initiates calls to the CDBS 51 and does not answer incoming calls, thereby reducing the threat of unauthorized use and intrusions. After a connection is established between the IRD 65 and the CDBS 51, the CDBS 51 downloads the product purchase information, retrieves transaction data, and allows the customer the chance to advance more money from their credit card to buy more products.

In addition to periodic contact with the CDBS 51, the customer may obtain additional programming funds by purchasing a card which contains a prescribed amount of programming funds and inserting the card into the IRD 65.

These "smart" cards may be purchased monthly and mailed to the customer.

It is to be understood that the present invention may be used with equal facility and advantage in digital signal devices other than PPV interface devices. Moreover, although the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it should be understood that the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its details are capable of modification in various obvious respects. As is readily apparent to those skilled in the art, variations and modifications can be affected while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure, description, and figures are for illustrative purposes only, and do not in any way limit the invention, which is defined only by the claim.