VIDEO FACILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

摘要

Apparatus and method for tracking the flow of television programs within a program distribution system, each program including video signal which contains information to generate a television picture, the distribution system including a plurality of units through which the television programs flow, by operating a first signal processing unit connected within the system for adding signal elements to the video signal in order to add patterns of symbols (404) to the television picture (402) such that the symbols (404) are disposed at predetermined locations of the television picture (402) and a plurality of successive patterns constituting a code uniquely identifying the program; and a second signal processing unit connected within the system for detecting signal elements previously added to a video signal and for identification of the program which included the video signal.