US 4,977,455 · Granted 1993-04-13

The 1988 Patent That Made VCRs Smart Enough to Record Themselves

Back when VCRs ruled living rooms, recording your favorite show meant manually punching in channel numbers and times—or missing it entirely. This patent describes a system that lets a VCR read broadcast schedules embedded in TV signals and automatically tune in and record at the right moment, no button-pushing required.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a VCR control system that receives broadcast scheduling data through a teletext receiver, processes it with a microprocessor, displays recording options on your TV screen, accepts viewer commands via remote control, stores the schedule in memory, and then automatically tunes the VCR to the correct channel and starts recording when the system clock matches a scheduled time. What's protected here is the entire chain: from receiving embedded scheduling data in the broadcast signal to automatically executing a recording without manual intervention.

Why it matters

This patent represents an early attempt to solve a real pain point in home video recording. Before on-screen program guides and digital TV listings became standard, viewers had to consult printed TV guides or manually enter channel and time data. Automating that workflow through embedded broadcast data was a clever way to reduce user error and make VCR recording accessible to less tech-savvy audiences. It's an ancestor of the electronic program guides (EPGs) that eventually became ubiquitous in cable boxes and streaming devices.

Real-world use

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a viewer could watch their TV, see a prompt asking if they wanted to record an upcoming program, press a button on their remote, and walk away knowing the VCR would switch channels and start recording automatically at airtime.

Original USPTO abstract

A VCR schedule controller receives broadcast data over antenna (1) or cable (2) by a programmable tuner (3), which is connected to a teletext receiver (4). The teletext receiver (4) is connected to a microprocessor (5). Microprocessor output (11) is connected to a video display generator (10), used to create text for television receiver (60) to display a message from the microprocessor (5). After processing embedded data in a broadcast, the microprocessor (5) generates a cue for display on TV receiver (6). Remote control receiver (20) receives a command from a remote controller (22) from a viewer input in response to the cue. Remote control receiver (20) supplies a control signal to cause the microprocessor to store the embedded data in memory (9). The microprocessor then issues a message to the display generator (10) as an acknowledgement of the viewer input. The microprocessor (5) monitors the system clock (6) and compares it with stored schedules from the embedded supplement data. When the system time corresponds to one of the scheduled times, the microprocessor (5) sets the programmable tuner (3) to the stored channel and initiates recording on VCR 30). <IMAGE>

Patent details

Publication number: US 4,977,455
Filing date: 1988-07-15
Grant date: 1993-04-13
Assignee: —
Inventor(s): —
CPC class: H04N5/782

View original record on Google Patents →

Want to file your own patent?

If you're working on a consumer electronics idea that involves automating recording or scheduling, search our patent database to see what automation methods have already been locked down by competitors.

Free patentability scan