Virtual channel system for web appliance, including interactive television
View Patent ↗A virtual channel system for a web appliance includes an interactive television having a virtual channel memory disposed therein. The virtual channel memory includes data associated with at least one consumer selectable virtual channel. The data is an updatable Web page that is displayed when its associated virtual channel is selected. The interactive television also includes a user data input memory that includes user demographic information. The user demographic data can be used to customize the virtual channels available at the ITV. More specifically, the ITV system uses the demographic data to establish the virtual channels available to a specific consumer in accordance with the demographic information that he or she has input to the ITV system.
1. An interactive television, comprising:
a television tuner;
a display communicating with the tuner for displaying broadcast television signals;
at least one virtual channel memory communicating with the display, the virtual channel memory storing Web pages associated with virtual channel numbers, the virtual channel numbers being selectable for presentation on the display, the Web pages being periodically received in the virtual channel memory; and
at least one user data input memory, the user data input memory storing at least some user demographic information input by the user, the user demographic information being at least partially used to establish what Web page is stored in the virtual channel memory.
2. An interactive television, comprising:
a video display;
a television tuner electrically associated with the display; and
at least one virtual channel memory associated with the display, the memory storing Web pages associated with virtual channel numbers, the virtual channel numbers being selectable for displaying the virtual channels on the video display, the Web pages being periodically received in the virtual channel memory, at least one virtual channel being established at least in part on user responses to prompts querying personal user demographics and viewer preferences.
3. The interactive television of claim 2 , further comprising:
at least one user data input memory, the user data input memory storing at least some user demographic information, the user demographic information being at least partially used to establish the Web page stored in the virtual channel memory.
4. The interactive television of claim 3 , wherein the user data input memory further includes at least some user preferences, the user input preferences being at least partially used to establish the Web page stored in the virtual channel memory.
5. An interactive television system, comprising:
at least one Web server;
at least one television signal source; and
at least one interactive television, the interactive television receiving information from the Web server and the television signal source, the interactive television including at least one virtual channel memory, the virtual channel memory including at least one computer page having an associated virtual channel, the virtual channel being selectable to display the computer page using the interactive television, at least one virtual channel being established at least in part based on user responses to queries for personal demographic data.
6. The interactive television system of claim 5 , wherein the interactive television further comprises:
at least one user data input memory, the user data input memory including at least some user demographic information, the user demographic information being at least partially used to establish the page stored in the virtual channel memory.
7. The interactive television system of claim 5 , wherein the user data input memory further includes at least some user preferences, the user input preferences being at least partially used to establish the page stored in the virtual channel memory.
8. The interactive television system of claim 5 , wherein the computer page is a Web page.