CA1159551A

CA1159551A - Method and apparatus for selectively receiving and/or recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program

Info

Publication number: CA1159551A
Application number: CA000349991A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Charles J. Yarbrough; Alan F. Strachan; Joe Weisman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-04-16
Filing date: 1980-04-16
Publication date: 1983-12-27
Also published as: GB2046967A; DE3014309C2; AU536261B2; FR2454736B1; DE3014309A1; AU6441180A; JPS55141876A; FR2454736A1; GB2046967B; US4305101A

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A selective receiving and/or recording technique for broadcast audio and/or video programs where the broadcast signal has a tone code preceding each program segment to which a monitoring-receiving-recording device is responsive, either matching the tone code with a prestored list of orders for receiving and/or recording that broadcast segment or responding to a particular code so as to disable its associated recorder to thus protect copyrighted information.

Description

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METHOD AND APPA~ATUS FOR SELECTIVELY RECEIVING
AND/OR REI~ORDING A BROADCAST
OF AN AUDIO AND/OR VIDEO PROGRAM

With the growing consumer use of the videotape recorder (VTR) and the already existing use of audio cassette recorders, the distribution and control of both audio and audio-video ; materials which may be transmitted over the free air or by cable (in either case, broadcast to a large population) is undergoing a revolution. For example, in the case of video-tape recorders, there is at the present time a question as to the control of copyrighted material. Now, there is no techni~ue to prevent the unawthorized copying of copyrighted material except by the outright ban of VTRS for use by the ; consumer or alternatively, the use of a "pay TV" scheme where a complex decoder to descramble the TV signal must be leased or purchased by the home viewer.

At the same time, with the information explosion and the growing use of computers in the home, the variety of infor-mation that can be received in the home has expanded far beyond motion picture and audio records, ~o, for example, computer programs. Also of course it has been proposed that newspapers be electronically transmitted to the home. Thus, it is desirable that there be a method of selectively monitor-ing this vast amount of information which comes to the home through broadcasts either by the free air or via cable, to either receive or record desired information. Moreover, this should be done automatically without the immediate attention of the user.

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It is therefore a general obiect of this invention to provide a method of selectively receiving and/or recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide both apparatus and method for the above where copyrighted material can be broadcast and re-ceived only by prior authorization to the home user.
In accordance with the above objects, there is provided a method of selectively receiving and/or recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program comprising the following steps: first, signals are encoded on program segments to be broadcast which identify the type of segment. The broadcast is monitored and these encoded signals decoded. Then the decoded signals are com-pared with a pre-stored code at the monitoring location and a predetermined ac-tion is taken with respect to this comparison. Such action includes at least one of the following: ~1) receiving the broadcast, (2) recording the broadcast, or (3) disabling the operation of any recording equipment at the monitoring loca-tion.
In addition~ the present invention includes at the monitoring location a technique for preparing and storing a list of different program segment types which are to be subsequently received and recorded when they are finally broad-cast.
According to one broad aspect of the invention there is provided amethod of selectively recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program com-prising the following steps:
dividing each of a plurality o~ programs to be broadcast into segments, no one segment comprising a complete portion of any one program;
placing a coded signal on each of the segments, the coded signal identi-fying the segment;

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intermixing the segments from different progr~ms to prevent any two consecutive segments from comprising a complete portion of any one program;
broadcasting the intermixed segments;
receiving the broadcast segments at a desired location;
electronically decoding the coded signal on each segment;
electronically comparing the decoded signals with at least one pre-stored code at the location where the broadcast signals are received;
automatically recording those segments having decoded signals corres-ponding to the at least one pre-stored code and automatically not recording those segments having decoded signals not corresponding to the at least one pre-storedcode.
According to another broad aspec* of the invention there is provided apparatus for selectively recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video programwherein the broadcast comprises a plurality of segments, each segment having a coded signal identifying the segment, no one segment comprising a complete por-tion of any one program, and the segments being intermixed from different pro~
grams to prevent any two consecutive segments from comprising a complete portionof any one program, wherein the apparatus comprises:
receiving means for receiving the broadcast;
electronic decoding means connected to the receiving means for decod-ing the coded signals;
electronic comparison means connected to the decoding means for comparing the decoded signals with a pre-stored code;
recording means for recording the broadcast signals connected to the means for decoding; and automatic activating means connected to the comparison means to permit recording the segment when the pre-stored code and the decoded signal correspond, - 2a -' ' ' ~15~

and to prevent recording the segment when the pre-stored code and the decoded signal do not correspond.
Brief Description of the Drawin s Figure 1 is a block diagram of the broadcast portion of the method and system of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram of the monitoring, receiving and recording portion of the system.
Figure 3 is a more detailed block diagram of a portion of Figure 2.

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Figure 4 is a more detailed block diagram of a portion of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an elevation view of a control con-sole with visual readout which is used at the monitoring location.

Figure 1 illustrates the generation and transmission of program material in the block 10. This refers to all pro-duction and programming involved in producing audio material to be broadcast over the radio, television material to be broadcast over the free air, and cable and/or telephone line material which can include digital computer programs, for example. In other words, any material which is discussed above which the home user would have some interest in and would desire to either receive and/or record for later use.
After the material is generated, a code is inserted at block 11 which precedes the material and specifically each segment or interval of the material.

Each program segment or interval is categorized as to its nature and content. Code insertion in the preferred embodi-ment of the present invention is in the form of pairs oftones, which may be exactly equivalent to those used in the telephone touch tone dialing, which are inserted in the audio portion of the material. Such material has encoded material on each of its program segments. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are included eight kinds of messages. The messages consist of a sequence of tone pairs, as discussed above. Relating to the touch tone dialing designations, all messages start with a star and end with a cross-hatched number designation. The messages themselves are variable lengths, the first digit specifying the kind of information which follows. Formats and meanings are as follows, with the messages being coded 1-8 in the first digit:

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l--NOT FOR RECORDING

2--COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL: FOLLOWED BY
F--A ONE DIGIT CODE (l=BEGIN ALL SEGMENTS
WITH THE NAME GIVEN BELOW; 2=END OF
ALL SEGMENTS; 3=FIRST, LAST AND ONLY
SEGMENT; 4=ANY MIDDLE SEGMENT).
DD-A TWO DIGIT DATE CODE
NAME--A VARIABLE LENGTH STRING OF THE

0 WHEN IDENTIFIES THE MATERIAL~

3--NON COPYRIGHTED IDENTIFIED MATERIAL: FOLLOWED
BY THE NAME IN THE SAME FORMAT AS THE NAME
FOR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

4--CHALLENGE: DIRECTIVE TO CHECK FOR TAMPERING
IF DEVICE IS NOW RECORDING. THE CHALLENGE
IS FOLLOWED BY A ONE DIGIT CODE
C--THE KIND OF CHALLENGE (l=NOT FOR RECORDING
AT ALL BY ANYBODY; 2=COPYRIGHT MATERIAL, COPYRIGHT PERMISSION REQUIRED)

5--BROADCAST IDENTIFICATION, FOLLOWED BY

DDDDD--DAY (1 JAN 1979=DAY 1) HHMMSS--HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND

6--NEWS, FOLLOWED BY
L--LEVEL (l=BULLETIN;2-HEADLINES;3=DETAILS) T--TYPE (l=NATIONAL:2=LOCALj3=BUSINESS;
4=SPORTS; 5=HUMAN INTEREST) INSTANCE--A VARIABLE LENGTH CODE LIKE THE
NAME CODE FOR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

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7--ADVERTISING, FOLLOWED BY
F--FILTERABLE (leA SEPARATE AD; 2=TO BE
INCLUDED WITH OR FILTERED FROM THE
PRECEDING TEXT) T--TYPE (1=NEW PRODUCTS; 2=ENTERTAINMENT;
3=SALES; 4=PUBLIC SERVICE;
5=OTHERS) INSTANCE--A VARIABLE LENGTH CODE LIKE THE
NAME CODE FOR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

8--FEATURES FOLLOWED BY
T--TYPE (l=PERSONALITY PROFILE; 2=ENTERTAIN-MENT; 3=HUMAN INTEREST; 4=SCIENCE;
5=PUBLIC AFFAIRS; 6=INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTING; 7=TRAVEL; 8=MISCELLANEOUS) INSTANCE--A VARIABLE LENGTH CODE LIKE THE
NAME CODE FOR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

9--OPEN FOR ADDITIONAL FEATURES.

Thus, in summaxy, after production of the initial material and before transmission, the material is conceptually broken into intervals or segments with each interval being cate-gorized as to the nature and content. These categories along with other information and punctuation are then coded and the codes translated into combinations of pure tones which are inserted into the audio portion of the material.
Examples of a categorizations and information notes for typical segments are as follows:

--NEWS, BUSINESS HEADLINES
--COPYRIGHTED MUSIC, GREASE, TO BE PLAYED

--SUPERBOWL XII VIDEO
--TODAY'S DATE
--MATERIAL NOT FOR RECORDING BY ANYONE

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' --MO~IE COMPLETED (ALL SEGME~TS SHOWN) --MISCELLANEOUS, NOT OTHERWISE CATEGORIZED
- ANNOUNCEMENT, FOR ALL SALESPERSONS

Additionally, some intervals may have redundant verification information inserted at points within the interval. Since one method of tampering with the overall operation of the system would be to inject false coded information in lieu of the transmitted code (e.g., insert a code that says the material was free for anyone to record in place of the original code saying that it was copyrighted) this redundant information would enable the monitoring and recording sub-system to detect that the system operation as a whole had been tampered with and to take appropriate measures.

Still referring to Figure 1 and transmission block 12, the term transmission includes any general dissemination of material which includes radio and TV broadcasting, cable TV
transmission, telephone communications and citizen's band (CB) broadcasting.

Figure 2 illustrates a monitoring record, and reception device which typically could include radio or television receiver for receiving a broadcast over the free air or by cable or via an input-output device connected to a telephone line. The encoded touch tone signal, after reception by unit 16, is split out or filtered by the unit 17 which sends the encoded signal to the tone decoder 18 and the informa-tional signal to the receiving and/or recording device 19.
Recording device 19 may either be an audio tape recorder (ATR) or a video tape recorder (VTR). There is a recording control unit 21 attached to the recording device 19 which may be used for switching the recordin~ device on or off, switching channels, or scrambling a signal. Recording control unit 21 is controlled by a central processing unit 22 which in the present invention is a Z-80 (Zilog) - , , , ~7~
microprocessor which is part of a Northstar microcomputer system. Such system is programmed in BASIC language as will be explained below.

Block 23 i5 a mode switch which as indicated may be used for the monitoring unit in a condition to set up a list of orders of different kinds of program segments to be either received and/or recorded and then in its other mode to actually perform the monitoring, recording, and receiving of such ordered broadcast program segments. A clock 24 provides for appropriate timekeeping, for example, to enable such orders as "record any news from 6 to 7 p.m. on Channel 4 and then switch to Channel 3 and record any news between 11 and 11:30 p.m." Block 26 stores programs for the subsystems and is a read only memory (ROM). The subsystems include an order subsystem and also the monitoring subsystem. Random access memory (RAM) 27 provides for the storage of the order messages. The self destruct block 28 relates to optional circuitry which allows the selective receiving system device to disable itself if it detects evidence of tampering.
Identification and function switches unit 30 allows the user to input orders, provides an alphanumeric readout and various function switches. These are partially illustrated in Figure 5 where thexe is a readout 29 which may ~e a cathode ray tube or a printer. Various function switches 31 include "start orders" and "end orders" and then the various alphanumeric switches 32 provide for naming or identifying the orders. Other techniques for fabrication of orders could include a magnetic strip which might be inserted into the order input unit 30 and/or a direct input over a phone line.

Referring briefly to the order input which are orders or directives for the future recording operations, examples of such order inputs are the following:

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--RECORD NE.~S HEA~LINES ONCE.
--RECORD AN~ TRACK CINTERVAL~. FROM THE
COPYRIG~TED ALBUM GRE~SE
-~RECORD ANY ANNOUNCEMENT UPON COMPLETION
OF RECORDING THE MOVIE
In general the orders are also coded in a form which mirrors closely the nature and content categories. Possible methods of input for these directives include but are not limited to --DIRECTLY FROM A KEYBOARD
--READING THE BEGINNING OF THE TAPE TO BE
RECORDED UPON FOR ORDERS ALREADY PLACED
THERE
--LISTENING TO ORDERS TRANSMITTED OVER THE
TELEPHONE

This diversity not only facilitates the potential wide spread use of the system, it also enables such possible restrictions as "COPYRIGHT MATERIALS MAY ONLY BE ORDERED VIA MAGNETIC
STRIPS (FOR 5ALE FROM THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER)."

Finally, the identificati.on and function unit 30 may also have a unique machine identification (ID) as well as various preset indicators of the function which it is authorized to perform. This permits the fabrication of orders destined for use on only particular devices and employs a magnetic code strip authorizing a certain machine to record an album on a certain day. Examples of function switches are"enabled to record news" or "not able to record copyrighted material".
In addition, as will be discussed below, in accordance with a program listing which will be discussed, the identification and function switches 30 are responsive to the various message codes, that is, namely l-8, especially message code l which states that the material i~ not for recording and which will disable by means of recording control 21, the VTR of ATR
recording devi.ce.

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_9_ Figures 3 and 4 illustrate more detailed schematics of portions of Figure 2. Figure 3 is the detailed schematic of a tone decoder 18 which includes ~ phase locked lo~ps 41 which are responsive to the audio filtered input from unit 17 to lock onto one of eight different frequencies. EicJht frequencies are used as in the touch tone dialing system to provide frequency pairs giving a total combination of six-teen different possible digits. The output of the phase locked loop tone decoders are passed through amplifiers 42 which are enabled by the CPU 22, Figure 2, to provide 8 binary input lines to the CPU 22.

Figure 4 illustrates recording control unit 21 where clock activating signals from CPU 22 activate a fllp flop ~3 whose Q output is amplified by amplifier 44 to operate a command relay 46. The command relay is connected to the recording device 19 to enable or disable for example, a VTR.

Now referring to the ordering of broadcast program segments which are to be recorded, the user o~ the system must specify first whether they are adding to the existing order or making an initial order. The input consists of list of orders and the kinds of requests that can be made and the information which is required is as follows:

2--RECORD COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, FOLLOWED BY THE
~CHINE OR DEVICE IDENTIFICATION (ID) AND THE DATE
AND NAME OF THE MATERIAL TO BE RECORDED. THIS CAN
BE ENCRYPTED.

3--RECORD NON COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, FOLLOWED BY THE
NAME AND A CODE TO SAY WHETHER TO BEGIN ANYWHERE
AND RECORD ALL INSTANCES, OR TO WAIT FOR A BEGIN
SEGMENT AND RECORD ONLY UNTIL THE FIRST EMD.

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-10--6--RECORD NEWS, FOLLOWED BY LEVEL (1, 1+2, ALL), OR TYPE, OR A LIST OF LEVELS AND TYPES.

7-~ADVERTISING, FOLLOWED BY TYPES.

8--FEATURES, FOLLOWED BY TYPES.

The following are three examples of the way in which the system of the present invention may be used:

EXAMPLE 1: "MAGAZINE OF THE AIR." A CABLE TV

BETWEEN 2 AM AND 6 AM. THE CONTENT OF THE PRO-GRAM IS A MIXTURE OF GENERAI NEWS, BUSINESS NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, SPORTS, ADVERTISING, AND
FEATURES SUCH AS BOOK REVIEWS, TRAVEL INFORMATION, PERSONALITY PROFILES OF POLITICAL LEADERS, AND
SO ON. A TYPICAL USER WOULD PLACE AN ORDER SUCH
AS "ALL BUSINESS NEWS, HEADLINES OF OTHER NEWS, SPORTS (BUT FOOTBALL ONLY), AND ANY INTERVIEWS
WITH POLITICAL CANDIDATES." HE THEN LEAVES HIS
TV AND VIDEO TAPE RECORDER ON AND UNDER THE CON-TROL OF THE SELECTIVE RECORDING SYSTEM, AND HE
GOES TO BED. THE NEXT MORNING HE CAN REPLAY A
RECORDING WHICH HAS ONLY THE MATERIAL HE WANTED, THAT IS A RECORDING WHICH HAS BEEN CUSTOMIZED
TO HIS DESIRES. ANOTHER USER COULD SUBMIT TO
HIS SYSTEM DEVICE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ORDER, AND SO HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RECORDED
PROGRAM AWAITING HIM THE NEXT MORNING.

EXAMPLE 2: AUTHORIZING RECORDING OF COPYRIGHTED
MATERIALS. AN FM RADIO STATION CONTINUOUSLY
BROADCASTS TRACKS FROM HIT ALBUMS. THE TRACKS
ARE INTERMIXED, SO THAT NO ONE ALBUM IS EVER
PLAYED BY ITSELF. THE TRACKS FROM ANY GIVEN
ALBUM ARE, HOWEVER, PLAYED IN ORDER DURING

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-11 THE COURSE OF THE DAY. MOREOVER, ALL TRACKS ARE
PLAYED. A SYSTEM USER WHO W~NTS TO RECORD A
PARTICULAR ALBUM BUYS A MAGNETIC STRIP UPON WHICH
HAS BEEN WRITTEN THE CODE FOR THE ALBrJM HE WANTS.
OPTIONALLY, IT ALSO HAS THE IDENTIFICATION OF HIS
MACHINE (HE PROVIDES THIS AT PURCHASE TIME) AND/OR
THE APPP~OXIMATE DATE ON WHICH HE WISHES TO MAKE
THE RECORDIN~. HE CAN THEN USE HIS CODE STRIP TO
DIRECT HIS SYSTEM DEVICE TO RECORD THE ALBUM, FILTERING OUT ALL OF THE EXTRANEOUS MATERIAL. NO
OTHER MACHIN~, NOR INDEED THIS USER ON A DIFFERENT
DATE, CAN USE THE STRIP TO AUTHORIZE THE RECORDING
IN THIS APPLICATION THE SYSTEM IS NOT A LOCK AND
KEY ON THE COPYRIGHT, RATHER IT FACILITATES A
FILTERING PROCESS WHICH THE TYPICAL PERSON WOULD
OTHERWISE FIND SO TEDIOUS AS TO PROHIBIT MAKING
A COPY OF THE ALBUM BEING BROADCAST.

EXAMPLE 3: A COMPANY INFORMATION SERVICE. A

BROADCASTS ITEMS FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. FOR
EXAMPLE, "TIME AND LOCATION OF NEXT DISTRICT SALES
MANAGERS MEETING," "EMPLOYEE EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES,"
"CHANGES IN OVERTIME REGULATIONS FOR MECHANICS,"
AND SO ON. INDIVIDVALS, OR GROUPS SUCH AS DEPARTMENTS
OR EMPLOYEE TYPES, HAVE A RECEIVER WHICH IS CONTINUOUSLY
MONITORING THE BROADCAST, EACH WITH A CUSTOMIZED SET
OF RECORDING IN~TRUCTIONS (INCLUDING THE RECORD ONE
TIME ONLY DIRECTIVE), PLAYING THE CURRENT TAPE GIVES
THE LISTENER HIS CURRENT AND CUSTOMIZED INFORMATION
BULLETIN.

The invention is Lmplemented by a BASIC language program on a Z-80 Zilog microcomputer incorporated in a Northstar computer system.
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The following is an explanation of how the various program lines can be implemented.
Lines 1000-1020 define machine identification and the function switches.
1030-1160 define the order of storage and processing areas.
1171-1300 set the initial switch values upon the device being turned on.
1305 make sure the tape recorder is turned off.
107-1309 say hello to the user.
1310-1970 clear out (that is to say, initialize) the order storage and processing areas.
1980 branches to the initial ordering subsystem.
1990-2110 is a module to write error messages during the orders input.
THE NEXT BLOCK OF ~ODULES ARE ALL ORDER PROCESSING MODULES.
2250-2850 are designed to process the ordering of copyright material.
2580-2850 are designed to process the orders for non-copyright material 3240-3440 are designed to process the ordering of advertising material.
3450-3650 are designed to process the ordering of feature materials.
3660-3880 are designed to accept the first digit, an order code, decide what type of order it is, and then execute the one of the above modules as appropriate.

Referring in detail to the advertising order module 3240-3440, the beginning order line 3240 is the command iden-tifying this module.

3250 is the statement which actually accepts the order.
3250 decides the length of the order, that is, how many items are required. And, then there is a loop in which .

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each item is processed until all the orders are exhausted.
That 1QP in the next set o~ lines, through 3330, decides whether the next digit in the sequence is either an asteris~.
indicating "I want all types of advertising" or a digit 1-5, being the only types of advertising currently implemented.
If it is anything other than the digits 1-5, it executes an error block. Otherwise, it decides which of the numbers 1-5 it is, and stores that number in the advertising area.

The actual storage is done in either line 3350 in the event it is a single item, for example, record ads of type 2, or in lines 3370 through 3390 in the event that it is an asteris~, saying "give me all types of ads that occur."

2890-4060 is another utility routine designed to display string arrays.

The next several blocks are all display modules to display the materials now ordered and additionally materials already recorded.

4070 to 4220 are the modules to display the copyrighted material, both the orders and recording to date.
4230 to 4380 are the modules to display the non-copyrighted material, both orders and recording to date.
43g0 to 4560 are the modules to display the news orders and recording to date.
4570 to 4690 are the modules to display the advertising orders and recording to date; and 4700 to 4%30 are the modules to display feature orders and recording.

All of the above modules are designed to print in clear text on the readout 30 (Figure 5) what pending orders the person has, and in the event that any recording has already happened, what items have been recorded.

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The next block is the main function selection, which is designed to decide which of the two subsystems, subsystem 1 or subsystem 2, is to be executed. That is to say, 1) entering orders or 2) recording as well as in utility functions, ~hose utility functions being the display of current status, the display of orders, recording information, and the dis-play of the functions themselves which the device will execute.

The following modules are again Control Modules:

5200-5250 is the module which actually tuxns the tape recorder on. That is to say, actuates the relay switch.
5260-5300 is the module which turns the tape control off.

This is followed by the input audio monitor routine.

5310-5470 is the routine which listens for a message tone in the audio input.
5480-5600 is the module which decodes a name - that is to say the identification of a particular item from the input.
5610-5720 is the module which decodes a number from the input.

Then comes a set of modules which are designed to process particular kinds of input material.

5730 to 5950 is the module to decide whether a given following piece of copyright material is to be recorded.
5960-6200 is the module to decide whether a given following piece of non-copyrighted material is to be recorded.
6210-6280 is the module to handle a challenge - that is to say a request to verify that the current recording of copyrighted material was in fact authorized, and did not occur as a result of some tampering with the program.

6290-6400 is the module to process a broadcaster identi~i-cation signal.
6410 6560 i5 the module to process news material, or identification of news material to decide whether it is to be recorded.
6570 6890 is the module to process feature material.
6900-7170 is the module to monitor the input, wait for a given message, and select the appropriate processing module. This final module is the chief executive force of subsystem 2. That is to say the subsystem which monitors the audio and controls the tape recorder according to the orders already placed by the user and if all of the processing matches the user's request, with two other pieces of information:
(1) what is this that follows on the tape; (2) is the information about what has already been recorded.
Does the user want every different ~eature ad that occurs during the day? When we get to a feature ad, we want to decide, not only is the feature ad to be recorded, but have we already recorded it? We record it only in the event that it is a feature and one that hasn't already been recorded.
0010-0560 process the 9 line output of tone decoder 19 (Figure 3) to relate tone pairs to their correspon-ding "telephone" digits.

The above program was successfully tested with an acutal broadcast which was simulated by making a videotape with 15 actual p~ogram segements, each preceded by a coded message, as per the above coding scheme. The tape included advertising features, news~, copyright material for purchase, and copyright material not for recording. Order requests were made and it was verified that, for example, when a "one"
message code was placed in the broadcase, that the associated VTR was truned off or disabled. Thus, the , 5;~

invention provides for ~oth selective reception of broadcast material and also for protection of copyrighted materials by disabling any recording means.

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of selectively recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program comprising the following steps:
dividing each of a plurality of programs to be broadcast into segments, no one segment comprising a complete portion of any one program;
placing a coded signal on each of the segments, the coded signal identifying the segment;
intermixing the segments from different programs to prevent any two consecutive segments from comprising a complete portion of any one program;
broadcasting the intermixed segments;
receiving the broadcast segments at a desired location;
electronically decoding the coded signal on each segment;
electronically comparing the decoded signals with at least one pre-stored code at the location where the broadcast signals are received;
automatically recording those segments having decoded signals corres-ponding to the at least one pre-stored code and automatically not recording those segments having decoded signals not corresponding to the at least one pre-stored code.

2. Apparatus for selectively recording a broadcast of an audio and/or video program wherein the broadcast comprises a plurality of segments, each segment having a coded signal identifying the segment, no one segment comprising a complete portion of any one program, and the segments being intermixed from different programs to prevent any two consecutive segments from comprising a complete portion of any one program, wherein the apparatus comprises:
receiving means for receiving the broadcast;
electronic decoding means connected to the receiving means for de-coding the coded signals;
electronic comparison means connected to the decoding means for comparing the decoded signals with a pre-stored code;
recording means for recording the broadcast signals connected to the means for decoding; and automatic activating means connected to the comparison means to permit recording the segment when the pre-stored code and the decoded signal correspond;
and to prevent recording the segment when the pre-stored code and the decoded signal do not correspond.