Method and apparatus for time shifting and controlling broadcast audio and video signals

摘要

A method and apparatus for delaying the display of a portion of audio and video broadcast signals received from a remote location. Received broadcast video and audio signals are placed in a first-in/first-out storage queue to enable the control of the playback of the signals. Signals may be placed in the tail of the queue while previously received signals are simultaneously routed from the head of the queue to a television monitor. Passing the signals through the queue creates the delay. The system may be controlled either by input to the receiver from the broadcast facility or by remote or manual control by the user. The control functions that are available to the user are pause, play, fast forward and replay. The control from the broadcast facility is through the ability to "mark" segments of the video and audio program to be immune to the fast forward function, thus guaranteeing that those segments are viewed by the user.